The Master Quest 2: Be the Best
by LadyMarissaGarmadon
Summary: It has been five years since Akuma allegedly disbanded Skulkin. Lloyd is now 16 years old &Wu is sending him off on the quest to not just be a Pokemon Master, but to discover his origins. Garmadon now moves forward with a team that was long since forgotten. His & Misako's son soon will learn there's something very special about him. Can Lloyd & the other gym leaders save the world?
1. Prologue

Misako circled the date on the calendar with a bit of a smile. "Happy birthday Lloyd…" she sat back in her chair and stroked Yin's furry ears. Her computer started beeping and she pressed the enter button.

Five faces were split on the screen and she looked at the webcam. "Morning everyone…" she smiled at the five teenagers whose own Eeveelutions were in frame.

"Morning Misako!" The all said together with cheery smiles.

She looked down a small picture, resting against the computer monitor. It was the only picture she had of Lloyd; the day after he was born. "Well… today is my son's birthday…" she set her teeth together.

"Oh yea, Lloyd…" Nya nodded slowly. She looked down as well, "That mean's he'll be meeting all of us soon…"

The older woman nodded, "Yes, so I trust that you all will help him because a great master… I want him to become the next Champion."

Another caller was beeping in. It was Wu. "Good morning everyone… Lloyd's waking up now…" he looked behind him to make sure the blonde would not be walking in on the conversation. "Any news about Akuma's whereabouts?"

Everyone shook their heads. "And whoever the new champion is… no one has even seen him! It's creepy…" Kai folded his arms.

"Any contact with Garmadon?" the pokemon professor asked next.

Misako answered this time with a short nod, "He's conforming to the rules… but he never leaves his gym anymore… it's like pulling teeth I swear…" she smirked, "However… I know he's up to some secret project… how could he not be after five years?"

"What do you want us to do then?" Cole asked.

"I want you all to stay close to your gyms…" Misako looked at the teenagers. "Do not do anything stupid or crazy… got that?"

"Yes ma'am!" Jay quickly said; not wanting to face the wrath of the former champion. "But… how are we going to know about Garmadon's secret plans?"

Misako looked at Zane and the blonde gym leader smiled, "Leave everything to me".

"I can help Zane too," Nya smiled and Scale yipped excitedly.

Wu stood up, "I think I just heard Lloyd…" He checked the monitor to make sure and looked back, "Goodbye for now everyone". The other six waved and he ended the call, switching screens to see his nephew coming in.

**Bout time eh? Been a little over month I think but it feels so much longer ;-; I promised I'd continue this so here we go! Ready to see Lloyd become a Pokemon Master like his mom and dad?**

**Hehe well hope you'll stick around ;) **

**~Mar**


	2. Chapter 1

Lloyd opened his green eyes and sighed. He swung his legs over his bed and heard the yapping of several Pokémon coming from outside. He walked down the steps of the two story house in his green pajamas and socks.

"Morning Lloyd!" The blonde teen turned to look at the video system on the wall.

Lloyd smiled into the camera, "Morning uncle Wu".

"I'd like you to come out back in the lab, something I think you'll be most happy about," he winked before the video fizzled out.

Lloyd ran back upstairs and pulled on a white tee shirt and his green sweatshirt and jeans. He slid on his high tops and hurried back down and opened the sliding door to the back.

"What is it?" he opened the lab door and stepped in, eager to see what the surprise was.

Wu turned around and patted the sixteen year old on the head. "I decided that you're going to go on a journey today". He folded his hands behind his back, "Happy Birthday…"

Lloyd heart stopped. "Are you kidding?" he blinked. Then the blank expression turned into a grin. "Are ya gonna give me a Pokemon and everything?" he looked at the ones playing outside.

Wu laughed, "Yes nephew, and I already picked the one that you'll start with". He picked up the Eevee that was as old as Lloyd, "And I'm sure you two will be even closer".

The fuzzy brown and white Eevee leaped from Wu and into Lloyd's arms. "Oh… Eevee?" he frowned. "I thought it'd be something cool like a Deino or something like a dragon type? But… I thought this Eevee was yours…"

"No, you will take Eevee, he will officially be yours," Wu nodded and handed him a pokedex. "This should help you too… and remember, Eevee can evolve into eight different forms… whatever he will evolve into is up to the both of you". He nodded. "Now why don't you pack a bag and start off?"

Lloyd looked at the brow eyed Eevee snuggling up to him and smiled. "Okay…" He left the lab and went up into his room, leaving Eevee on the bed to paw and bounce on it.

"Xtranreciever…" Lloyd muttered as he stuffed a backpack with a flashlight, umbrella, blanket, and his own private stash of lollipops he hoarded. He looked at Eevee's pokeball and looked back with a smile. "So… wanna just ride on my shoulder?"

Eevee sprung from his bouncy bed and onto his shoulder happily. His bushy tail slapped Lloyd's face, making him laugh and he started down, scratching the back of his Pokemon's ear.

The sixteen year old walked past the bookshelf near the door and looked at a picture on it, picking it up. "… Gee, I wonder what happened to you guys…"

It was a portrait of Lloyd when he was just born. His mother, father, and uncle were in it. Eevee looked at it with curiosity.

The blonde teen looked at his new friend, "This was when I was a baby…" he pointed to the little green bundle in the woman's arms. "Those were my parents but… my uncle said they died in an accident with the lab… a wild electric type Pokemon broke out while they were being treated and killed them or something…" he sighed. "Never overly fond of those types anyways so don't expect me to evolve you into a Jolteon or something…"

"Ee, ee," Eevee nuzzled the side of his face.

"Yea… and they were trainers too… all three of them had Eevee… My uncle has a Vaporeon… and he said that he released my parents' Espeon and Umbreon after they died…"

He locked the door on his way out and surveyed the small town he grew up and lived in. It was small, Gold Town. He didn't understand why it was called that but that was all he knew. The same five square miles and he never dared to venture past the road signs leading to Route 1.

Though he was raised since he was a baby here, he found his old birth certificate that said he was born in Ninjago City, the very heart of the Ninjago region, "Soon I'll see the place my parents grew up in…" he told Eevee. "Ninjago City…"

He slipped his hand in his hoodie pocket and felt something in it. He frowned as he slid out the rectangular object. "A badge case?" he stared at the black and green metal tin. He opened it and there was a note from Wu.

_Well hello nephew!_

_ I slipped this in your jacket when you weren't looking. This is the same badge case that I had when I traveled around with your parents when we were all your age. Go on and earn some badges and maybe compete in the league and become the champion! I hope you make new friends and have a grand old time. _

_ Love,_

_ Your Uncle Wu_

Lloyd slipped the tin case back in his pocket and petted his Eevee's head. "Where would you wanna try and battle against first?" He opened his electronic map on the pokedex. "... Ninja Town looks like a good place to start," he showed his little Eevee the map. "And it's recommended to be the first gym since it's the closest…"

Eevee yapped happy response and Lloyd stepped his pace up. "Just outside route 1 too!" He broke into a run. "I should get there by tomorrow morning! Maybe even tonight!"

Wu looked out the window and saw the teenager and the Eevee sprint off down the road with new confidence and a genuine smile on his face. "I just hope Misako was right about him being able to deal with the truth…"

**I'm excited to start posting this one :3 And just sayin'; Darreth is the first gym leader and I loved writing him as one. **

**Thanks for reading ;) **

**~Mar**


	3. Chapter 2

Lloyd waded through the tall grass parts of the route and looked around, hoping that he would catch his first Pokémon soon, though he didn't get his hopes up.

Once in the short grass again, he started kicking a fair size rock along with Eevee playing around his feet.

Lloyd brought his leg back and kicked the rock so hard that it bounced into a tree and rustled the branches. A buzzing noise started rattling making Lloyd stop in his tracks.

A small swarm of Beedrill came down and Lloyd started screaming. Eevee hopped in his backpack, bouncing around in the green fabric pouch as his master ran.

The boy in green tripped and fell face first into the muddy grass. He lifted his head, spitting out grass blades. "Aw yuck…"

Eevee crawled from the pack and stood in front of his trainer with a growl. One Beedrill was ahead of the others and made it first; just in time for the furry normal type to spring into a tackle attack, knocking the bee like Pokémon back.

The bug type buzzed away, scared and the others followed.

Lloyd sat up on his butt and Eevee climbed all over him, licking his face. "Hehe… thanks," he wiped more mud off his face. "Remind me to never catch bug types too…" he scratched behind his Pokémon's ears as he continued to lick his cheek.

"You know… I should give you a name…" he tilted his head as Eevee made himself comfortable in the space between his crossed legs. The little monster could go from vicious to lovable in a matter of seconds. "How about Dragon?"

Eevee licked his hand, "Okay, you're name is Dragon," Lloyd grinned and picked him up while standing. "Now let's go challenge that gym!" He was about to step when a small Pokémon inched in front of him. "Aaah! Bug type!"

The little black and white colored bug type shrilled, scared and tried to slink away quicker. Lloyd stopped and leaned down. "Hey… you're not so scary…"

The bug type was almost nose to nose with the young trainer. Lloyd took out his pokedex and opened it up. "Scatterbug huh?" he looked down. "Do you have any friends? Or family?" he crouched down.

Scatterbug stopped trying to run and shook his head. "Yea… same… this is Dragon," he showed his Eevee. "I'm Lloyd".

Scatterbug tilted his head and Lloyd frowned, looking at the empty pokeballs on his belt and took one off, pressing the button, making it enlarge. "Wanna come with me?" he smiled. "Ya know… since you're all alone?"

Scatterbug titled its bobbled head and looked around before looking back at the green eyed sixteen year old. Lloyd smiled brightly. Then he looked at the red and white capsule. He squeaked and nodded his head quickly.

Lloyd grinned and Scatterbug butted his nose up against the button and went inside the ball. It flew out of Lloyd's hand, rocking back and forth on the ground. It made the ping noise that signified the Pokémon was caught and Lloyd jumped. "Alright! I caught a Scatterbug!"

Dragon yipped and jumped on top of his trainer's head. Lloyd's green eyed looked up as he picked Dragon off his head, "Come on! Let's go!" he started running again. "I can't wait to tell uncle Wu about this one!"

"EE! EE!" Dragon barked and climbed back into the green backpack.

* * *

><p>It was almost dark when Lloyd stepped into Ninja Town and was amazed at how different it seemed to Gold Town. There were many normal types in Gold and Ninja Town seemed to have many flying type.<p>

Pidgeys and Fletchling were nestled in the trees and Chatots chattered above his head while Drifloons floated in the wind like little purple and white balloons.

Lloyd didn't know where to look first and neither did Dragon as they looked around with wide eyes. The first thing that caught Lloyd's eye was the orange-red roof of the Pokémon Center down on the corner of the street.

He looked at the video call screen and turned it on after trying a couple of buttons. He picked the new Pokeball off his belt and typed in his uncle's phone number. "Lloyd! Glad to see you made it safe to the first town. You must have ran the whole way! Where are you?" he smiled.

"Ninja Town! I'm challenging the first gym tomorrow!" He grinned. Eevee yipped.

Wu smiled and nodded, "I see Eevee is very attached to you as a partner after just one day!"

Lloyd scratched Dragon's ear, "And I gave him a name too, I named him Dragon," he laughed as he licked his face. "Oh!" he opened the pokeball. "And I caught a Scatterbug!" the small bug type was on his other shoulder and squeaked happily.

"Well done, Lloyd, your… parents would be very happy that you plan on being a league champion".

Lloyd looked back from his Pokémon, "You really think I could become the next champion uncle?"

Wu nodded, "I think so… your father almost did it… and your mother… well," Wu half smiled. "She actually was the champion… she was your age when she won it… you can only imagine how jealous Garmadon and I were being she was the longest reigning one".

Lloyd nodded, "Well, I'm gonna get a room and go to the gym in the morning," Lloyd put Scatterbug in his Pokémon again. "Goodnight uncle Wu".

"'Nite Lloyd; and make sure to show me that Feather Badge when you win it! Darreth isn't too hard of a trainer," Wu signed off.

* * *

><p>Lloyd set his bag down next to the bed and kicked his sneakers and jeans off, just sleeping in his white shirt and boxers with Dragon on his chest. "Night buddy!" he ruffled the back of his partner's neck.<p>

It felt strange sleeping in a different bed than the one he slept in since he was little, let alone that it was in a different town. Not to mention that all Lloyd could think about was what Wu told him earlier about his mom.

Dragon sensed he was still awake and sat, nose to nose with the teenager. "Yea… I know… I wanna know more about my mom being the champion too… maybe if I can find a library…" he looked out the window. "No doubt they'll be stuff recorded about her… maybe even my dad…"

He wrapped his arms around his tiny Eevee and fell almost instantly.

* * *

><p>Eevee licked his face until he was fully awake. Lloyd slipped his jeans, shoes, and sweatshirt on and ran downstairs to the small restaurant on the bottom floor.<p>

Dragon and Scatterbug sat on the table with him as he fed them pokepellets. "I can't wait to get my first badge," he grinned. He was so excited he couldn't eat anything.

As soon as his Pokémon were done eating, he bolted down the street until he got the gym. "Good luck Lloyd!" Nurse Joy shouted after him as he ran out. He sucked in a breath and entered through the double doors.

The main hall was rather empty and he stood by himself. "Hello?"

A boy, about thirteen ran out. "So sorry to keep you waiting! I'll tell Darreth he has a challenge!" The boy had a Starly on his head which made Lloyd laugh a bit.

The boy gestured for Lloyd to follow him into the battle field and ran out ahead first. Lloyd had never been in a gym before so he didn't know what to expect; In was a metal field with tall, wiry tree like structures. Lloyd tilted his head as he looked at them.

"Welcome to my gym!" A voice came. Across the way was what must have been the gym leader. "I am Grand Gym Master Darreth, and this is my flying type gym!" The Starly that was on the assistant's head flew onto the man's shoulder, "I darreth you to a Pokémon battle!"

Lloyd looked around again. They must have been perches. All he had was a bug and normal type. "Should have caught an electric type after all," he sighed. Earning his first badge would be harder than he thought.

**I used the bit... I used the Darreth bit... Fun Fact: I actually started writing this story before I wrote Origins... I stopped in the middle of this one to go back and write the first one and decided to make it a trilogy instead of a duology :D **

**Thanks for reading ^-^ **

**~Mar**


	4. Chapter 3

Lloyd swallowed. "I am Lloyd Garmadon and I challenge you to a battle!" he pointed.

"Garmadon eh?" he raised an eyebrow. _"Of course… must be Misako's son… she called about him earlier too…"_

Darreth's hand went to his belt and he grabbed a pokeball. "Then I accept little dude! This will be a two Pokémon battle! Only you can substitute!" he through his pokeball. "Fletching! We have ourselves a challenge!"

A small Fletchling popped out and started circling. Lloyd frowned. "Okay then," I choose Scatterbug!" he tossed his newest Pokémon out.

The small worm like Pokémon squeaked when he saw the bird like Pokémon circling. Darreth blinked at the tiny bug type. _"And maybe he lacks a lot of his mother's battling instinct… to not choose a bug type against a fire and flying type…"_

Lloyd looked at his Pokedex to read Scatterbug's move set. "String shot… and tackle…" Lloyd nodded. "Okay then Scatterbug! Use string shot and wrap that Pokémon up!"

Scatterbug shook off his fear and spat the silky string out. It caught Fletchling by the tail. The small bug type pulled back with all his might to bring the flying type down more.

"Fletchling! Use ember to burn the string shot!" Darreth pointed, commanding his Pokémon friend. Fletchling turned his head around and small red embers flew from his mouth, burning the string shot up. "Now! Quick attack!"

Fletchling zoomed down, wing hitting the smaller Pokémon. Scatterbug was knocked back, fainted.

The boy with the Starly on his head was playing as the ref. "Scatterbug is unable to battle!" he held his hand out. "This round to Sensei Darreth!"

Lloyd sighed and returned the Pokémon to its ball. He looked to Dragon and nodded. "Alright… ready to test our battling skills?"

Dragon jumped off his shoulder and stood, ready. Lloyd swallowed. "Eevee knows… sand attack, tackle, growl, and tail whip…" he had it all memorized. Wu always was fascinated by the Eeveelutions. "So… okay Dragon get ready to do just as I say!"

"Wing attack Fletchling!" Darreth shouted.

Lloyd grinned. "Okay Dragon! Tail Whip!"

The small Eevee waited till Fletchling was in close and Eevee's bushy tail smacked the small bird in the beak, it hit the ground. "Sand attack!" Dragon kicked dirt into Fletching's eyes as it scrambled around on the floor of the field. "And quick attack!" Lloyd jumped in.

Darreth couldn't give a command without Fletchling failing pathetically to perform the move. Eevee's attack hit and Fletchling fainted.

Darreth returned his Pokémon. "Okay then, my last Pokémon! Staravia!" He threw his second ball out.

Lloyd looked at his dex. "Evolved form of that Starly…" he looked to the younger boy's head.

"Stand your ground Dragon!" Lloyd felt the rush of the battle. It was his official first and it felt great.

When Staravia swooped low to deliver a wing attack. Dragon seemed to have a determined grin and leaped up under Lloyd's command. Instead of using tackle though he opened his mouth and bit down near Staravia's neck. Lloyd then grinned seeing that the small Pokémon decided to teach itself a new move.

Staravia squawked. "Shake him off!" Darreth shouted.

Dragon remained stuck to the other's back. "Use bite again!" Lloyd grinned. Dragon bit down again. "Bite again and again!"

"Shake him off!" Darreth started getting frustrated with Dragon. "Try using aerial ace!"

Finally Staravia weakened and fell to the ground after knocking the Eevee off. One last pounce was all it took for the flying type to be knocked out.

"Staravia is unable to battle! The winner is the challenger Lloyd!" The boy with the Starly gestured to Lloyd.

Lloyd scooped Dragon up and kissed the top of his head. "You did great!"

Darreth folded his arms and smiled. "Well done for you first battle…" He took the pillow from his boy assistant. "Here you go kid. The Feather Badge". Lloyd looked at the shiny brown and gold pin.

He opened his case and placed it in. "Thank you Darreth". He looked up.

"No problem kid. So, gonna become champion like your mom?" he asked.

Lloyd frowned. "You knew she was the…?"

"Misako? Yea, one of the best and held it for a long time gave it up though just before she uh… died…" he coughed.

Lloyd nodded. _"Must have been because of me…" _

"Anyways," Darreth smiled again, "She would be proud of you!"

Lloyd thanked Darreth one last time before returning to the Pokémon Center to heal his two precious Pokémon and to show off the badge to his uncle.

As he quickly stepped he bumped into two older men. "Hey watch it kid!" one gruffly said.

Lloyd jumped. "Sorry sirs!" he straightened up. He looked at both. They had some strange half skeleton mask on one side of their faces. They walked past and Lloyd shook it off; they kind of scared him.

**I should write more stuff with Darreth... I really like him and he totally stole my heart in the season 2 finale...**

**Thanks for reading :D **

**~Mar**


	5. Chapter 4

Wu sat at the video phone, tapping his fingers on the desk. "Yes, he just earned his first badge". He had promised to constantly keep his sister-in-law updated on everything Lloyd was doing, or at least what Lloyd reported in on.

"So much like his father then," Misako smiled, trying to think what life would be like if none of the separation had happened. "Likes to dive right into things…" she stroked Yin's head who was curled up, asleep in her lap. "Your baby is in good hands too Yin…"

Wu frowned and looked at his folded hands, "When he gets to Ninjago City… he will know…" he looked up at her green eyes. "He'll probably be mad at you too". He kept reminding her.

"Doesn't matter… he'll learn eventually…" she looked down and waved it off. She smiled, "I sort of look forward to his reaction… does that sound cruel?"

Wu shrugged, "I don't think so; it's been sixteen years since you saw him in the flesh… I think if he was my son, I'd be curious too".

"Well… I suppose I'll see you around, let me know where he is next and all of the usual…" She signed off.

Wu sat back and looked at the Eevees playing outside in the backyard with his Vaporeon. It was funny, the parallels between his brother and his wife and their own partners. "Well if my assumption is correct… Lloyd will be heading for Kai's gym next…"

Lloyd looked at his map with a frown. "Where should I go next?" he said to himself.

"Hi Lloyd!" Nurse Joy was walking past. He smiled up at her. "Wondering where to go next right?" she sat down next to him. "I suggest… Fire Temple Valley is a great place! The gym leader is a fire type so you might need some water types… Either that or Stoneburrow is a nice place and they're right near each other! Either way you should look into getting some more water type Pokémon!" she got up and walked back to the counter with her Chansey and Audino.

Lloyd and Dragon slowly walked, observing the road ahead and how long it would take to get to Fire Temple Valley. He walked along the narrow river and thought back to what Nurse Joy said about obtaining a water type.

"Wanna go fishing buddy?" He looked back at Dragon who yipped.

Lloyd took his sneakers and socks off and rolled up his jeans to his knees and tossed his sweatshirt aside with his backpack, wading into the water while his Eevee sat on the bank.

The river was quite shallow and went up to his knees, just barely getting the cuffs of his pants wet. "Now… come on… maybe… a Finneon! Or a Gyrados!" he rubbed his hands together with an excited grin on his face.

He started splashing around, trying to stir up the water and make a Pokémon mad and start a fight with him. "Come on! Water types!?"

A male Frillish leapt from the water angrily and Dragon bit him. It shrilled and swam off faster than it had come. Lloyd groaned in frustration and tried again.

Five times Lloyd Garmadon tried to catch a cool looking water type after that one. After Frillish was a Marill, Seaking, Tentacool, Horsea, and a Lumineon but all either fainted or ran off after dousing him with angry water gun attacks.

Lloyd sat on the ground and sighed, dripping wet. Dragon started pulling the blanket he packed out of the backpack and pulled it over to his trainer. "Thanks…" he wrapped it around his shoulders and Dragon sat in his lap.

A bubbling sound surfaced in the river in front of him and fish like Pokémon reared its brown face and pink lips. "What the heck is that?" Lloyd pulled out his pokedex. "Feebas?" he blinked. "Sorry little guy, you can go… I'm not looking for a type like you…"

The Feebas continued to stare at Lloyd until he was uncomfortable. The blonde boy sighed and got up and made camp under a tree and decided to release Scatterbug so he could curl up with him and Dragon too.

The Feebas continued to look over at them but Lloyd ignored the strange Pokémon. The sun was going down and Lloyd finally fell asleep.

"What did you see?" The older man asked the two younger ones with the half skeleton masks in black suits.

"Plenty for taking boss! Trainers have been leveling them up quicker, especially the ones hanging around Fire Temple Valley! There was this one brat that banged into us with a pretty interesting Eevee… right Kruncha?"

The one called Kruncha nodded. "Yea… right Nuckal… some blonde kid… these hideously bright green eyes… his Eevee looked nice…"

"Don't touch him," the first voice quickly said.

The two underlings looked at one another. "Sorry… but… why sir?" Nuckal asked. "Don't you want us to steal from every brat in the Ninjago region? That is the plan right?"

The one seated stood up and stepped down from the shadows of the Black City gym. "Because that _brat _is my son you numbskulls!"

**This one was short so I revised it and got it out of the way... excpet other ones being updated too... aaaand Garmadon and Skulkin are finally in this installment. The parts with Kai and Nya meeting Lloyd was pretty fun to do... **

**Thanks for reading :)**

**~Mar**


	6. Chapter 5

Lloyd woke up, his jeans were dry and his rolled them back down around his ankles and put his sneakers back on and packed his blanket and things up. He heard more bubbling and looked back at the river. The Feebas was still there.

Lloyd frowned. "Uh… hey buddy its okay, you can go home… go on… with your friends or family…" he tried to shoo the fish off.

Feebas continued to stare like the night before though. Lloyd returned Scatterbug to its pokeball and started walking up again towards Fire Temple Valley. Out of the corner of his eyes, the Feebas was following him along in the river.

As he tried to go faster, so did the Feebas, swimming along happily.

Finally Lloyd stopped and stared at the Feebas with Dragon, somewhat weirded out by the small water type. He stepped up to the bank of the river and kneeled down, "So… you wanna battle… or something?"

"Fee!" Feebas happily blubbed.

Lloyd looked at his shoes and sighed. "Okay then!" He grinned. "Let's go Scatterbug!" he tossed out his small bug type.

Scatterbug shrieked happily and looked at his opponent. The Feebas started spitting out water gun, making Scatterbug yip and inch to the left.

"Come on," Lloyd sighed. "Use string shot!" he commanded. Scatterbug meekly shot out his string but the Feebas dove under the water to dodge it.

Lloyd frowned and watched the water, waiting for his next Pokémon team member to resurface. Dragon started growling with anticipation, watching his tony teammate.

"BAS!" Feebas jumped from the water and tackled Scatterbug.

"Come on Scatterbug!" Lloyd held his face with embarrassment. "You tackle back!" he demanded. Scatterbug meekly obeyed and tossed his attacker off, attempting to use bug bite next.

Feebas started flopping on the ground and Lloyd gingerly looked at his ready pokeball with a sigh, knowing it was the only way to not be further pestered by the weird creature. "Go Pokeball!" he shouted as he tossed the red and white ball.

The Feebas was absorbed into the ball and the pokeball rocked back and forth until it made the same ping that sounded when Scatterbug was caught.

Lloyd frowned and picked up. He then smiled. "Well, I guess you'll make a nice friend too…" he clipped the pokeball on his belt and returned Scatterbug and did the same. Dragon pawed at his leg and he picked him up.

"Fire Temple Valley, here we come," he started walking again, stuffing his hands in his hoodie pockets, quickly walking alongside his partner.

* * *

><p>Kai sat at his desk with his Flareon perched on his shoulder, clicking away at the mouse on the desktop listlessly.<p>

It started ringing and he clicked the phone icon to pick it up. The spiky haired teen smiled. "Professor Wu, nice to see you again… after… two days?" he joked with a grin. Flame yipped seeing Mist, Wu's Vaporeon, in the background.

"Hello Kai! How have you been though otherwise? How's your sister in Jumanokai City?" Wu asked. "Anything strange going on yet?"

The Fire Temple Valley gym leader scratched his Flareon's ears, "Nothing yet sir… Zane and Nya haven't reported anything… I think she said she was coming back and Cole was going out… Stoneburrow's been slow…"

"Lloyd's coming to the valley next on trip. He just started out late yesterday. Mind showing him some tricks? I'm sure Darreth went easy on him… he does with every kid…" he chuckled.

Flareon jumped onto the desk and Kai's brown eyes followed his partner. "Of course I will sir," he looked back at the screen.

Wu nodded. "He should make it to your town tomorrow the earliest but I wouldn't count on anything… he'll try and blow through the gyms but I want him to learn something along the way… same with Misako, so we're counting on you and the others".

Kai nodded again, "I understand professor!" he leaned back in his chair. "I look forward to helping Lloyd out and meeting him again, he probably doesn't remember me though".

Wu was about to sign off when he stopped. "Oh… almost forgot… how is Flame?" he looked at the Flareon.

Kai picked up his warm and fluffy partner. "Flame is doing just fine! Same with Scale, Wisp, Rocky, and Shard!"

"Good good!" He nodded with approval; it had been a while since he checked up on their partners for he still felt attached as their breeder. "I wish you luck! Lloyd can be… well rambunctious," he chuckled. "He begged for six years straight to go on this trip".

Kai stood outside the gym; it was almost sunset when he saw a familiar figure running along the road, towards him with a dainty Sylveon at her side keeping up. "KAI!" She laughed and waved.

"Sis?" Kai's mouth opened, genuinely shocked.

He started running with his Flareon at his feet, heading for the Sylveon. Kai wrapped his arms around his sister and spun her around while their partners played with each other. "What are you doing here?!" he set her down. "I know you were going back home but I never expected you to come here! Why?!"

Nya laughed. "To visit you silly!" she rolled her brown eyes. "How are things here?" she looked behind at the gym. "I know we talk on the Xtransreciever… but I miss home…"

Kai tilted his head. "Forget about me… how's Jumanokai? Hehe… and how is Scale?" he looked at her Sylveon, pulling on Flame's bushy yellow tail with her sharp teeth.

"Scale is just fine as you can see, and Jumanokai is great… you need to visit again!" she put her hands on her hips. "Now… I took leave for another four days! I'm staying over!" she excitedly hopped.

Kai grinned and led her inside with Scale and Flame. He bit his lip and looked back. "So… seen Jay in person lately? Or outside of our little group chats? Scrap Town is by Jumanokai… right?"

Nya frowned and looked down, folding her arms. "Uh… no… we're… I don't know…" she bit her lip. "Uh… right now we're taking a break is all…" She smiled and waved her hand. "I know you two are friends and it's me not him so don't hurt him for making me upset or anything". She nervously laughed.

* * *

><p>Lloyd yawned and turned on his side. "Dragon…" he looked over at the curled up Eevee. "What do you wanna evolve into?" he curiously asked.<p>

Dragon looked up and tilted his head. Lloyd laughed. "I wanna know what form you wanna take when you're ready to evolve… like… Ya know… my uncle has a water type… Vaporeon… and my parents had dark and psychic… what do you wanna be?"

Dragon licked his face and sat on his chest. "Not ready yet right?" Dragon yipped. "Okay okay… goodnight Dragon…" Lloyd turned his head to the left and fell asleep too.

* * *

><p>Lloyd awoke to a finger poking him in the cheek. His tired green eyes weakly opened to see a set of brown ones staring at him.<p>

Lloyd jumped and gave a bit of a scream. "Sorry!" The brown eyed girl covered her mouth. "I don't know why but I thought you weren't breathing or something!" She lowered her hand. "I'm Nya… I was doing some training with Scale… my Sylveon," she smiled at her fairy type.

The boy in green sat up and scooped Dragon up and held him. "Lloyd… Lloyd Garmadon… what are you doing here Nya?"

She smiled, of course she knew who he was, "I was training… being this is my four day down time from my gym," she petted Scales. "That's a cute Eevee you have… what's his name? Or do you not name your partners?"

"Nah, this Dragon," he held the Eevee out.

Nya laughed. "Cute! So are… you headed into Fire Temple Valley right?" She asked, helping him stand up.

The blonde scratched the back of his head, "Uh yea… but how did you know?" he frowned.

The black haired teen smirked; of course Kai told her what Wu had said to hum. "Well, I bet you didn't know not only am I Jumanokai's gym leader but the Fire Temple Valley gym leader is my twin brother," she thumbed to herself proudly.

Lloyd grinned. "That's cool! I wish I had sister or brother… just me though… and my uncle Wu…" he shrugged.

The black haired girl led the way into the valley and gestured to the red roofed gym. "There it is! The Fire Temple gym!" she patted Lloyd on the back. "Now come on! Kai will be happy to see you!"

Inside, Kai was in his room inside the gym. He was feeding Flame when Nya knocked. "Hey there!" Kai grinned. Lloyd stuck his head in. "You must be Lloyd! Damn dude, you grew up too..."

The green eyed trainer blinked. "You were expecting us?" he looked at Dragon.

The spiky haired leader nodded, "Your uncle sent my sister and me on our journey ya know, you probably don't remember us that well… we were about ten…" Kai stood up. "Sadly I'm not going to accept any challenges today because my sister graced me with a surprise visit," he smiled at Nya. "There'll be plenty of time for battles tomorrow".

Lloyd groaned. "Aw, but it took me two days to get here! And I caught a new Pokémon I wanted to try out and everything…"

Kai sighed, "Sorry… but you can hang out with us today if you want… show me your Pokémon… I'm sure you want them to level up and start evolving soon yea?"

The blonde looked at the two balls on his belt, "Okay, I appreciate that".

Nya laughed. "Lucky for you I just happened to evolve most of my Pokémon before Kai did…" she smirked, arms folded. "I hate to brag but… I'm sort of an expert on it," she laughed.

The teen in the red and black plaid jacket shook his head and Flame jumped onto his shoulder. "Well Lloyd you can stay over here for the day and then challenge me tomorrow morning…" he started out past his sister and challenger. "And if you want, you can join us for breakfast". He looked back.

Lloyd decided to accept the invitation. Not every day you get invited to eat with a league gym leader.

**Yay for Pokemon! Sometimes I forget that Feebas turns into Milotic XD I sort of wanted Lloyd to catch some Pokemon most people would deem ugly or at least not cute or pretty, but the eventually evolve into beautiful Pokemon... IDK...**

**Thanks for reading :) **

**~Mar**


	7. Chapter 6

Fire Temple Valley seemed rather old fashion. It was quaint but in a warm and inviting way that reminded Lloyd of Gold Town a bit. Unlike Ninja Town though, this valley was teeming with fire types all over. On the way over something caught Lloyd's eye and he stopped.

Kai and Nya turned around, "Something wrong kid?" Kai frowned at the puzzled expression on Lloyd's face.

"Uh… those two… I saw them in Ninja Town I think…" The blonde boy tried to remember. "They have those skeleton mask things though…" he tried to discreetly point to them.

Nya leaned closer to her twin brother, "You don't think it's…" she bit her lip. "I mean… I've been out and about with Zane for several days and never found them… why now would they even show up here?"

Kai looked at her matching wide brown eyes, "… well… if it is… we know what to do… Misako told us to warn her… same with Scrap Town and Stoneburrow… Lloyd can't know about his father being the leader…"

"Right… we can't tell Lloyd... Not yet at least… I remember what we're ordered to do…" Nya nodded and stood upright again. "Come on Lloyd! That pancake place is the best in all of Ninjago!" She grinned. "Our old babysitter's mom runs it!"

Lloyd nodded and followed the twins again but couldn't stop thinking about the masked men. He was starting to feel paranoid now, checking to see if they were following him. Eventually they reached the small café where they were immediately seated.

Nya ordered for them and the waitress brought out a stack of pancakes for them to share. "Wow…" Lloyd looked at the stack, green eyes forgetting about the masked men.

The black haired twin giggled at the trainer's expression. "Yea I know right? These are the best on the menu… they have sliced pecha, oran, cheri, and nanab berries," she poured syrup on hers. "It makes the most perfect blend! Not too sweet with just a little kick from the cheri berries!"

Lloyd took one with a bunch of berries and dumped syrup on his. "These are awesome". Dragon yapped and Lloyd gave him a couple of syrup dipped pecha and oran berries from the stack to nibble on.

They heard the bell of the door chime but didn't think anything of it until a gruff voice said, "Okay everyone; Hand over your pokeballs".

Kai, Nya, and Lloyd turned around in their seats, not pleased with the sudden command. The skeleton masked men and women in the black suits had Marowaks and Cubones and a couple others had Houndours and Poochyenas.

Kai pushed his seat back and stood up, hands in his black jean pockets. "I'm Kai Blackman… and I'm the gym leader of this town…" he frowned. "I am Fire Temple Valley's guardian so I'll ask you once nicely to leave us alone".

They stood still, still locked on robbing them all and Kai smirked. "Well then… looks like my sister and I are just gonna have to make you leave…" he chuckled, "Frankly, I'm happy we're doing this the hard way because I need to blow off steam!"

Nya stood up as well and grabbed a miniature pokeball on her gold necklace chain and took it off the hook. "Mienshou!" she tossed the pokeball out gracefully.

"Talonflame!" Kai threw out his flame bird Pokémon.

Lloyd stood up, holding Dragon in his arms at a short distance behind the twins.

The expert sixteen year old gym leaders stood relaxed like a battle was so casual. "Miss Laine, we promise not wreck you shop too much," Kai promised.

The young blonde at the counter started backing up more to stay away from the fight. Nya pointed at the thugs. "Now! Send two of your best battlers! If we win then you can beat it from our home!" she folded her arms.

Two of the taller ones stepped forward. "We'll fight in the name of Team Skulkin!" one shouted. "Come on Nuckal!"

The two took out their own Pokémon. "Go Golbat and Haunter!"

The poison and ghost types floated in front of their masters. Kai cracked his knuckles and the twins took off their sweatshirts and tossed them behind them to the floor.

Nya's brown eyes narrowed, "Mienshou!" she called for the fighting type's attention. "Us high jump kick on Golbat!" she roared with anger.

"Talonflame you use aerial ace on Haunter!" Kai pointed.

Golbat went in using poison fang and Haunter used shadow claw on their opponents. Both parties hit the other and most customers started clearing out while the getting was good and everyone was distracted.

"Flamethrower!" Kai commanded next.

"Golbat! You intercept and use wing attack!" the one called Nuckal shouted.

Nya growled, "No you don't! Mienshou! Drain punch on Golbat! Regain some health!" the sleek gray and lavender fighting type Pokémon nodded and did so, whiskers twitching. The flamethrower hit Haunter and Golbat and still they did not faint.

The fire type attack heated the room up in a hurry, burning against their faces. Lloyd had to close his eyes because it was bright and hot when it hit, stinging his emerald eyes.

"Now! Air slash on Haunter, Talonflame!"

"Finish this battle with energy ball Mienshou!"

Kruncha and Nuckal were blown back as their Pokémon slammed into them. "Gah!" Nuckal was the first to return his haunter and scrambled to run out.

"Coward!" Kruncha grabbed his Haunter and bolted out after him.

"AND STAY AWAY!" Nya shouted back, throwing her fist up. "Or next time I'll pound you bozos with my bare hands instead of my Pokémon doing it for me!"

Lloyd's eyes widened. "Does she always get like this?" he looked up at Kai, suddenly afraid to make the black haired teen angry.

The brunette laughed, "Well, she doesn't like getting pushed around in case you can't tell," he winked. The gym leader paid for their breakfast and started out. "Sorry about some scorch marks…" he apologized.

Miss Laine smiled sweetly, "It's no problem… my Litleo and Pansear do worse when horsing around," she waved. "Thanks again you two and come back soon!" Her blue eyes followed Lloyd who tailed them, "And nice to meet you Lloyd!"

"Well that was an eventful morning," Kai stretched his arms back and crossed behind his head. "Any sighting you want to do Lloyd? We have plenty of cool things like landmark statues and stuff". He looked down at his sneakers as they walked along.

Lloyd petted Dragon and shrugged. "Uh… I don't know really… this traveling thing is sort of new… ya know?"

Nya nodded, "Oh yea, I was the same way… and I was eleven… you're a few years later… but that doesn't really matter…" she stopped. "How about a battle between me and my Plusle?" she looked back. "You have new Pokémon right?"

The green eyed trainer nodded, "Well, yea… one I caught yesterday and one a couple days back… a Feebas and a Scatterbug," he looked at the small pokeballs in his hand. "They're nice and all but they're not… the coolest…" he quietly said, afraid they could hear from inside the pokeballs.

"Plusle, come on out!" Nya pulled out the pale yellow and red Pokémon.

"Plu?" she tilted her head. The fighting type trainer giggled. "Hi there sweetie… would you like to have your first battle?"

Lloyd crouched down and petted the electric type. "First battle huh?"

The black haired girl nodded. "Yea… I caught her about two weeks ago but since my gym is for fighting types, I haven't been able to test her moves out…" she scooped her Pokémon up. "I was thinking of a battle with you and Scatterbug".

Lloyd nodded. "A great idea!" he pulled out his pokeball. "I choose Scatterbug!"

The bug type squeaked and Lloyd picked him up. Kai looked at it closer. "Didn't expect you to bring a bug type to my gym to battle my fire types… or even to fight Darreth and his flying types…" He looked even closer at the worm like creature. The tiny creature squeaked and tried to hide in Lloyd's hood.

Lloyd smiled and scratched Scatterbug around the antenna area. "Well… he was all alone… no friends or family… like me…" he looked up. "Guess I thought he'd be safe with me or something…"

"Well come on! We can use the training field at the Pokémon Center!" Nya bolted down the street to the small red and white building.

"Sis! Wait up!"

**I like Nya being all feisty... anyone else? No? Just me... okay ;-;**

**I promise a Kai VS Lloyd soon :3 Next chapter though is a little thing between Lloyd and Nya...**

**So thanks for reading :D**

**~Mar**


	8. Chapter 7

Kai was the ref for the battle between Nya and Lloyd. Scatterbug was on one end and Plusle was on the other. It had been a long time, he was just a kid when he and Nya use to be the refs during their father's battles. He brought his hand down. "Begin!"

"Okay let's see…" she frowned, looking at her pokedex. "Helping hand… double team… quick attack and spark…" she nodded. "Okay! Plusle! Start this off by using double team!"

Plusle split into four other ones that mimicked each other. Scatterbug tried to find the right one and kept looking around, panicking.

"Stay calm buddy!" Lloyd bit down. "Use string shot a bunch of times to destroy the copies and catch the real Plusle!"

Nya brought her arm out, "No you don't!" she loudly laughed. "Plusle! Use quick attack"!

All the Plusles, three remaining, all darted in at Scatterbug, slamming him into the ground, making the tiny Pokémon cry.

"You can do it!" Lloyd balled his hands up.

"EE!" Dragon called out to his tiny friend.

Scatterbug got back up and tried to shake the attack off. "Great!" Lloyd hopped. "Now! Tackle!"

"No way; don't let him land the hit! Use Spark!" Nya countered quickly. Lloyd could tell she specialized in fighting type just by the way she gave commands and flowed like a fighter when moving to give them. She didn't want her opponent to gain any upper hand.

Spark hit Scatterbug and the poor bug type was almost out of steam. He was on the brink of fainting when he started glowing white. Lloyd's mouth dropped.

"He's evolving!" Nya excitedly said, clapping her hands together a bit. She of course was hoping for this, not just getting a first fight with her Plusle, so Lloyd could get a little morale boost.

Lloyd had only seen very few Pokémon evolve. A handful of Eevees at the lab back home evolved into a Flareon and Jolteon which were two Eevees someone abandoned to them when he was very little.

Those two evolved when they accidentally got into his uncle's evolution stone stash one night and they woke up to find the old Vaporeon playing with the two young evolved Eevees.

Scatterbug now looked more like a cocoon with string shot wrapped around him. He pulled out his dex and opened the new file. "Spewpa… the evolved form of Scatterbug…" Lloyd tilted his head. "He now can use harden too…"

"Spewpas evolve into Vivillions and they're very pretty," Nya rubbed the top of Spewpa's head. He gave a cute, purr like noise and he close his eyes, enjoying the rub.

Lloyd smiled. When he thought about it, he was pretty cute when you took a good look at it. Kai walked over, still standing, "I guess the battle's over?"

Nya returned Plusle back to his ball and Lloyd did with Spewpa too.

After showing Lloyd around the valley, it was dark when they got back to the gym. Kai opened a door and Lloyd walked in, "Here ya go kid. You can stay in here," he smiled.

Lloyd folded his arms, "Can you stop calling me kid? We're the same age," he said with a smirked.

"Well, goodnight… _Lloyd_," Kai winked and shut the door.

Dragon hopped onto the bed and made himself comfortable on the pillow before Lloyd could pick him up and remove him from the soft object. "I think my head goes there…" he plopped Dragon down on the foot of the bed.

The Eevee yipped in annoyance and when Lloyd sat down he crawled into his lap and started trying to lick his face.

* * *

><p>Wu shuffled down the hall, he was about ready to go to bed when he heard the loud and quick knocks at the door. "I'm coming…" he sighed and wiped his face. Mist lifted his head from his curled up position on the couch and fell in step behind his master. Wu unlocked the door and opened it, surprised at who was on the other side.<p>

"… hi…" she tried to smile.

"Misako…" Wu shook his head. "Come on in why don't you?" Wu stepped to the side and she walked in with her little Espeon trailing behind her.

Being a Ninjago City gym leader she looked different than when she retired from being the champion. She had a long brown trench coat that she took off with her green scarf, damp from the drizzle. "Is there something important you don't want to discuss over the video phone?" he locked the door again.

The Vaporeon he owned walked in and started going up to Espeon. "Looks like Mist missed Yin…" Misako commented. She pulled the hem of her white sweater down more. "Now…" she turned around and leaned against the table. "There was a report that… Skulkin attacked Fire Temple Valley… Kai contacted me just a few hours ago… it happened this morning but he had to wait until a few hours ago, hence me late visit…"

Wu looked up from their Pokémon. "Lloyd arrived there today…"

She nodded, "And all the while there is more trouble in other towns… Skulkin hasn't tried anything funny with me yet and I personally I hope they do," her emerald green eyes seemed to sharpen over the years as she aged, almost a bottle green color now but still had the childish mischief in them.

"I take it you want to send a message to Garmadon…" he clasped his hands together.

Misako nodded once more, "And I need a favor from you…" she leaned back on the couch cushions.

"What would this require?" he tilted his head, "You almost called in all your favors," he blue eyes hinted joking.

The gray haired woman held her hands behind her back, pressing them into the couch. "I… am…" she slowly said, "considering going to Black City and confronting Garmadon for the last time…" she sighed.

"He'll slaughter you this time… he even managed to surpass as the eight and hardest gym…"

"If he couldn't beat me when I was champion, then I think I can beat him again regardless of his gym status…" she stood upright. "It's been a while since we had a battle you know… maybe you forgot why my champion name was the Esper-"

Wu cut her off, "Because you're so smart you can predict moves before they happen and counter attacks, I remember getting beat before Misako". He kindly said with a smile.

The moon was covered by the clouds and Misako looked back. "Is it okay if I spend the night here?" she quietly asked. "I tired from my trip…"

"Of course… you can sleep in Lloyd's room if you wish".

"I'd like that very much…"

**Lloyd VS Kai next! :D I'm pleased with how the story is turning out so far... So thanks for reading :) **

**~Mar**


	9. Chapter 8

Nya stood on the field sidelines. "This will be a three Pokémon battle! Only the challenger, Lloyd, may substitute!" she smiled. It had been a while as well since she was a ref for a battle. Since she was in town, Kai let her judge the battle.

Lloyd nodded, ready for his second gym fight. "GO!" Nya backed off the field a little more.

"You have the honor Lloyd!" Kai bowed to his opponent.

Lloyd looked at his pokeballs and frowned. "Okay then…" he hesitated before he picked one up. "Feebas! I choose you!"

It then hit Lloyd that he didn't know any of Feebas' attacks… or that he could even perform them out of water but he seemed okay on the field.

Kai smirked and gave an overhand throw of his pokeball. "Charmeleon!" he called out. "Let's fire things up!"

Lloyd scratched the back of his head; any water type move should work, "Okay then… Feebas! Use water gun!" He commanded from the small water type.

"Flamethrower Charmeleon!" Kai called out second with new spark to his hazel brown eyes.

Both streams of fire and water clashed, creating a warm steam cloud that they almost lost sight of their Pokémon in. It dispersed quickly and visuals came back for the trainers. Lloyd clenched his teeth together. Now wasn't the time to hesitate. He saw how Kai battled, he charged right in without a hesitation, confident in his Pokémon and abilities.

Judging by what happened the morning before, Nya was the finesse and Kai was the brute force. Lloyd cracked his knuckles, thinking up something more before Kai could go again. "Uh… water gun again?" he bit his lip, not knowing what else to do.

Kai scoffed with a laugh, "Ha! Charmeleon; use bite!"

The red lizard like Pokémon swooped around the water gun with ease and was going in for the bite with his huge fangs. Lloyd's eyes widened. "Feebas! Redirect the blast! Quick!"

The light brown fish obeyed and turned head a little to the left and Charmeleon got blasted in his open mouth which had small wisps of flames glowing in the back of his throat. The water type attack ended the move quickly.

It enraged the Charmeleon more and Lloyd was getting excited that he landed a hit like that. Charmeleon went right back into the bite and the blonde trainer's water type cried out.

After a brief moment Lloyd decided to return Feebas. "Okay Dragon… I choose you…" he looked at the Eevee sitting patiently next to his foot.

Dragon trotted out and stood battle ready with his four paws spread. "Sand attack!" Dragon kicked up dirt and sand when the fire type was starting to hover nearby to attack; it covered its eyes with it's big clawed hands.

"Tail whip!" Lloyd shouted.

Dragon spun around to deliver the hit. "Grab that tail!" Kai suddenly blurted out. Charmeleon did as he was told and stopped the Eevee's bushy tail.

"Now pick him up and spin him around and toss him!" Kai smirked, making a little bit of a motion on how to do it. Dragon yelped as he was being tossed around and landed on the far side, near Lloyd.

"Uh oh…" Lloyd swallowed. Dragon looked a little dizzy after that attack.

Dragon got up though and started charging at a speed so fast Lloyd, Kai, and Nya couldn't see him. Next thing they knew was that Charmeleon was flat on his back, fainted.

"Charmeleon is unable to battle!" Nya held her head. "Kai you idiot… Stop screwing around if you wanna actually beat him… you're doing a serious battle! Not teasing the kid!" She laughed a little.

Kai grinned. "Nice one… that Eevee keeps surprising me… but of course I'm not surprised, your uncle did breed him…" he pulled out another pokeball. "Now! Arcanine!"

Arcanine roared when he was released from the ball and stood, ready to battle the tiny Eevee. "Arcanine! Use roar!"

The fire type roared loudly, knocking Dragon back to Lloyd and Spewpa came out of his ball. Lloyd jumped, startled by the sudden action. "Roar… that's right… it switches your opponents…" he covered his mouth.

_"And Spewpa can't do anything right now…" _Lloyd rolled his head back. "kay… he swallowed. "Let's try tackle!" he shouted.

The small cocoon like Pokémon waddled fast, trying to slam into Arcanine.

Kai folded his arms with a smirk. "Arcanine… use fire fang!"

Arcanine did as commanded; his white, canine teeth became wreathed in an orange red flame. He bit down on Spewpa, knocking him out instantly. Lloyd figured it would happen so it wasn't much of a surprise. He decided to toss out Feebas once again. "Now Feebas… work with me here… I'm gonna need your water gun!"

Feebas was not very maneuverable sadly but he managed to spray Arcanine every so often. Yet Feebas was taken out by bite and all Lloyd was left with was his little Dragon.

"Ready?" he looked at the Eevee. He seemed to nod and jumped back out. "Okay then… sand attack! And then follow up with a quick attack!" Lloyd commanded of his partner.

Dragon did so and Arcanine head butted the Eevee when he did quick attack. "Damn… why can't Eevees know water gun attack?!" He clenched his teeth.

Like magic Dragon started shooting water from his mouth. "What the-?"

Arcanine didn't expecting the attack and got knocked back. He looked like he was getting tired by the way he was panting. Lloyd grinned when he realized Dragon knew assist. "Use assist again!"

Dragon, this time, shot out what looked to be string shot. "What!?"

Kai smirked. "Assist can perform any move from your party!" he shouted from across the room. "Water gun won't happen every time a Pokémon can only use a move so many times in a row! So you better be careful kid!"

Lloyd frowned and narrowed his eyes. It looked like Arcanine was so out of energy he was losing balance. "Okay then…" he swallowed. "Quick attack!"

Dragon's body slammed into Aracanine's. "Use bite now!" Dragon bit down on Aracanine's leg and he howled until he fainted.

It was one left each and it would decide the victor. Dragon was getting tired and couldn't hold up much more. What could Kai possible throw out next? _"There are dozens of Pokemon he could have… could he use Talonflame?" _Lloyd thought to himself.

The spiky haired gym leader had a smirk on his face, "Okay! Flame! Time to set our future loser on fire!" The pokeball spun in the air at rapid speed and the white light released its contents.

Kai's Flareon came out and Lloyd almost crumpled.

**Writing Pokemon battles is hard X.x**

**So... eevee vs eevee... hehehe...**

**Thanks for reading! **

**~Mar**


	10. Chapter 9

Kai had said that his own uncle gave him the Eevee that was his partner for not long over six years. Kai waited three years to evolve it into a Flareon and spent the time building up is defense levels and the second three years was spent improving fire type moves.

Lloyd decided to dub the title of Fire Master on the other sixteen year old.

The new trainer was determined to get his second gym badge and he sure as hell was not going to let a spiky haired teen like the gym leader take him down. "Okay Dragon…" Lloyd slowly started. He waited a couple of beats. "USE QUICK ATTACK!"

Before the command was done Dragon was starting the attack.

Kai was taken aback by the sudden speed but before Dragon was going to hit Flame he thought something up on the fly. "Fire spin!"

Dragon got wrapped up in a flaming vortex, yapping, scared. "Assist!" Lloyd shouted.

As he hoped, his Eevee sprayed a stream of water that knocked the vortex away and even sprayed Flame.

Another minute went by as Kai and Lloyd called attacks back and forth, dodging and sometimes hitting. It was to the point where Flame and Dragon were getting tired from the dodging.

Lloyd's heart was racing. "One more hit… just one quick attack…" he whispered to himself. "One more…"

Dragon swallowed and shakily stood, same as Flame as they waited for their owners' next commands.

Lloyd could see the contemplation on Kai's face, deciding how to get around Dragon's impossible speed. Lloyd then seized the chance. "QUICK ATTACK!"

Dragon sprung into action and made contact with Flame.

Kai, Nya, and Lloyd stared at the outcome, shocked. "… Lloyd wins!" Nya held her hand out to Lloyd's side of the field.

Kai picked up Flame and smiled. "What a wonderful partner you are…" Flame opened his round, black-brown eyes and started weakly licking Kai's face, making him chuckle.

Lloyd and Dragon did the same.

"Lloyd, I'm happy you toughed it out through the heat," he held up a gold and red badge. "I give you the Flame badge!"

Lloyd pulled out the badge case. "Wow…" he bowed to Kai. "Thank you so much!" he grinned, seeing two badges tucked neatly in the case.

"Thank you for a hard battle. Been a while since a newbie gave me a challenge," he petted Flame's head gently. "So, I know you're anxious to get going; where do you plan on going to next?"

They started walking out together. Lloyd shrugged. "After I get my Pokémon healed I'm not too sure…"

Kai and Nya exchanged knowing glances. Nya stepped up next to Lloyd as they walked. "Tell ya what; I'm going back to my gym in Jumanokai! If you want, I can tag along until you get there and wanna challenge me".

"Wow you'd do that?" Lloyd's mouth opened a little.

She nodded, "Sure thing! It's more fun when you travel with friends anyways! I can help you with evolving your Pokémon and everything!" The black haired teen side hugged him. Of course she wanted to see what Garmadon would do since his son was on a journey of his own, no doubt more Skulkin would be showing up wherever Lloyd went.

Lloyd smiled gratefully though as the two walked to the Pokemon center.

Misako stood in the doorway of the place she once called hom. "Are you sure you want to do this?" Wu followed her out.

She looked back at him and sighed. "You don't have to come along if you don't want to… I'm sure Lloyd will call you and show off his new badge…"

Wu held up his portable video phone. "I thought of that too". She nodded, he cared too much about her to let her do this on her own, so the only thing she could do was accept his willing assistance.

It was fifty-five miles to Black City. It was so strange that a little town like Gold Town would be so close to the looming black metropolis where the sun barely shined. It would take around a day for sure unless you rode on the back of Pokemon, but the gym lead wanted to prolong things until later that evening.

"What happens if you're not back in time for Lloyd to challenge you?" Wu thought up another question as they walked. It helped pass the time at least. "You know he plans on speeding through everyone…"

The older woman frowned, "Well, I guess we better not let Skulkin catch us…" she nodded. "But I need to see what Grmadon keeps hidden in his gym… whether I'll have to play him or simply be direct… I will find out…" she looked back at him, "And that is all you need to worry about right now".

Wu was surprised how much of a private woman she had become. Sixteen years was a long time for someone to be away from their family. It made her stronger without a doubt, but she seemed to have more of an edge in her personality.

"What if…"

"Wu!" she stopped and turned around, snapping off. "Stop with the what ifs… please…" her eyes looked sad even if the rest of her face looked mad. "Sorry…" she looked at her feet. "What if what?"

"Akuma…"

She flinched. "Never speak of that name…" she whispered. "It hurts to remember…" she wrapped her arms around herself. "I'm sorry for dragging you through this but… Garmadon needs sense talked into him… ya know?" She let out a heavy breath, feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders, "Before it's too late…"

**I feel so sick... but I'm trying to update some stuff around my Halloween story so, yay, more Pokemonz. **

**Thanks for reading. **

**~Mar**


	11. Chapter 10

Lloyd had spent the last three traveling days by himself with his Pokémon. It was nice to have another human to talk to and get a reply from, and Lloyd really enjoyed Nya's personality. She was strong and caring and he liked that about her.

Stoneburrow was two days away so they would have to camp for two nights. It was getting late on the second night and Lloyd let his Pokémon out. Nya unrolled her sleeping bag and looked over. "Want to evolve Spewpa tonight?" she smiled.

Lloyd looked over. "How can you do that?"

Nya smirked and brandish a small pouch of blue wrapped candies. "You need to evolve a Pokémon… so… if you feed a few of these to Spewpa… he can evolve… if you wanna try it of course…"

Lloyd looked at Spewpa a little aways. He was looking over curiously at the candies, licking his chops hungrily, knowing what the candies would do him. Lloyd smiled. "Wanna give it a try little guy?"

Spewpa inched over and bounced a little, excited to get started. Nya poured out four. "I think four will be enough". She started unwrapping them. "Spewpa doesn't stay like this for long…"

One by one Spewpa ate them, squeeing. After the fourth one he glowed white like two days ago.

It took the form of a moth like creature only with bright, pink and blue colored wings with stripes of bright purple. Nya marveled at it and Lloyd looked completely awed. Nya then blinked. "Wait… pink and blue wings… that's… a girl Vivillion!" She clapped her hands together.

Vivillion fluttered down into Lloyd's hands. "Well… sorry for calling you a boy then". He laughed, using one finger to scratch between her antennae. "You're a lot prettier than I thought you'd be actually," he innocently said. Vivillion leaned forward and gave her trainer a peck on the nose.

The trainers and their Pokémon curled up and fell asleep, ready to start out again the following morning.

"Stoneburrow City has the rock quarries that hold the minerals we need to power the ultimate weapon so we can open the portal…"

"Just tell us when to go sir!" The Skulkin grunts bowed.

Garmadon chuckled at the pathetic underling's amusing attitude towards the mission. "Okay then… might as well start out now… it's been a couple days since Kruncha and Nuckal failed the demonstration in Fire Temple Valley…"

The trio left the gym room and he looked up upon hearing the door open a second time. "Who's there?" he narrowed his eyes.

Misako took her hood of her coat off. "I challenge the Black City gym lead to a battle," she raised her head, proud. Wu stood behind her.

Garmadon sighed, looking exhausted at the thought of dealing with them. "Well, I thought we were… spending time away from each other my dear…" he stood up, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"I'm not staying away when I now know what's going on…" she narrowed her intense eyes. "So… the minerals? You're referring to the moonstones naturally?"

He stepped down from his seat and lifted her chin up. "My you have grown feisty since we last saw each other… I think that suits you… Esper of Ninjago… always guessing the next step of her enemy…"

"Death Shadow…" she looked down up with a scoff at his self proclaimed title.

"As a dark type user… your psychic types won't harm my Pokémon…" he smirked. Yin was at Misako's foot and his Umbreon was behind him. "I wonder if your Yin missed my Yang…"

The two Eeveelutions stepped closer. Yang's red glowing eyes and gold marks were the most visible features on him in the darkened room. Ting's purple eyes glowed like the red gem on her forehead. Misako wasn't surprised though because he liked the dark for as long as she could remember.

"Just because I can use psychic types best… does not mean I will be able to lose… I've beaten you before when we were young and stupid…" Misako looked back at Wu. "Wu… you should… leave us…" her eyes said it all really:

_"Stay close… stay hidden… find the plans for the weapon"._

Wu nodded and stepped out to do as she wanted.

Garmadon listened to the quiet and quick footsteps of his younger brother and the slam of the door. He looked down at his wife, finally alone. "So… you want a battle then?" he frowned.

"That's what I asked…" she looked up. "If I win… you disband Skulkin… and… forget all about Akuma… because I have a feeling he twisted in this somehow…" she quietly said for fear he would be listening. "And maybe be the guy I use to love and had that baby with…"

"If I win… you do as I say… you will not betray me and you'll… not run away anymore…"

She blushed when he said that and went rigid. "Why would I agree to that?" she frowned more. "Why would I ever associate myself with you now? Whether I win or lose?" She went to back away from him.

He grabbed her wrist. "Because if I win, it's my terms," he glared at her. "No more running… you'll be here forever…"

She jerked her wrist back. "What are you playing at?" she stood, feet apart.

"Gonna rule the world dearest," he grinned. "You know it was always a… dream…"

She didn't move and didn't say anything for a while, it would dumb to challenge him after his terms, but she had to stall so Wu could carry out his end of the plan. "Ever since you met Akuma and lost to me as champion you started on some power quest".

The two looked down. Yin and Yang were sitting together, tails intertwined. "If you want to battle me… then we will in the morning… you can stay over…"

Misako gestured to Yin. "Come on Yin…" She shoved her shoulder into her husband on purpose as she walked past in a huff. The gall he had to even ask it of her. Still; it was the only thing she could do to. She hated the idea, but she'd have distract him; just like last time.

She leaned against the doors. Wu was standing against the wall. They side glance at each other. "He accepted…" she whispered. "And he wants a fight tomorrow… he wants me to stay overnight…"

"Now… try and get him to give this all up…" Wu nodded.

They stood upright. Misako hugged Wu tightly. "I hate the idea of sleeping with that traitor…" she sighed. "Thanks for agreeing to peep around and get a look at what they're planning…" she whispered.

"Leave it all to me…" he patted her shoulder. "Just…" he sighed. "Good luck with your end…" He walked down the hall, making it look like he was leaving the gym.

Yin jumped into her master's arms and licked her hands. "Yea… okay…" she scratched behind her ears. "You can spend the night with Yang…" she was thanked by a lick to the face. "Okay okay…" she chuckled. "I know my end… think I can do it again? Play like I suddenly miss him?"

**So since this is a combination of season 1 and 2, this is sort of gonna be like stealing the helmet of darkness... I'm a hopeless shipper and you all know that already... *flies away* thanks for reading!**

**~Mar**


	12. Chapter 11

Garmadon was about to shut the door of his room when Yin slipped through to his surprise. He bent over and scooped the lavender Pokémon up. "What do you think you're doing in here?" he scowled at the dainty creature that belonged to his wife. She looked at him with her starry eyes, pleading. Yang barked and he shook his head, "How can you two get along like that?"

"Because they are not petty…" Misako's voice came from the other side of the door. He groaned quietly and watched her come in. "Because; Yang wants nothing more but to keep Yin and their baby safe… unlike you…" she sneered a little.

"Go away, no battle until morning… I won't fall for the same trick twice… you probably have those five pathetic teenagers running around and disrupting my plans…" he pointed to her.

Misako slowly clapped her hands sarcastically, "Wonderful deduction though I just spoke with Kai, our son won his badge just this morning and is travelling to Cole who is waiting for him with Nya, Zane is visiting his father, and Jay is backed up with other challenges so who could possibly be here to sneak around?" she folded her arms with a half smirk.

"You won't get a thing out of me until I defeat you tomorrow morning and you will be mine forever," he turned his back towards her and released the Espeon that slinked away with her partner into the next room.

Misako looked around his darkened room, "My third time here in this very room… where I gave birth to our son… and when I distracted you…" she commented aloud.

"Yes I do not wish to be played at a second time… You left me and then Akuma left me," he waved for her to leave him. Misako tapped her foot silently; she had to think of some reason to stay in this room just to keep an eye on him.

* * *

><p>Wu had studied what the other brought back five years ago when Skulkin was allegedly disbanded when Akuma had left. Most things had changed from what he was seeing on the computer screens that the grunts were typing away on.<p>

He knew Misako's theory was right and that the plans now called for moonstones for whatever reason. Then something caught his eye; on one of the screens was the project title "Reverse World Project".

"That damn fool…" Wu whispered to himself. He wished he could just walk over and read that file. He then found a supply closet and found a few Skulkin uniforms and masks in there. He wondered if it would really work, maybe long enough where he could remain undercover here. Would the Skulkin notice one more man in their ranks?

* * *

><p>"So are you going to scat or what?" Garmadon testily said, growing irritated that she didn't budge from her spot against the wall. "What's wrong?" he looked back finally. "Hmm?"<p>

She shook her head silently, "Oh how I miss the good old days," she quietly said. "Who knows though… maybe after I'm done with you here, beating you and all… I will take Wu's offer and remarry to him when the divorce papers would go through". She stood upright and went to leave the bedroom.

He clenched his teeth, not knowing if this was a part of her little plan he knew she had or it was sincere; either way it made his blood boil to here that from the woman who still wore her wedding ring. She was being very hard to read tonight. "Well, do tell why you're in my bedroom… wife".

"First off do you really believe that getting into the Reverse World will actually be a good thing?" she leaned on the frame of the door. "Or are you trying to destroy the world like you're so called friend Akuma planned?" the smaller woman smiled. "I know you won't give answers until you get something in return… I plan on paying you handsomely…" she stepped closer.

"Oh I see what this is… totally…" he laughed. "I won't accept your so called love for one night as payment for plans and anything else you could promise me is a lie!" They defiantly looked at one another as the opposite just seemed to refuse to obey the wishes of the other. They were both being hard to get, driving the other insane.

She just wanted to kiss that stupid man, feeling her old feelings towards him before he turned on her, it made her hate herself for such thoughts but maybe she could use the half truth to her advantage, maybe a little bit of opening up would get him to talk.

"I won't lie and say I really have not missed you the past sixteen years…" Misako finally said. "And I know you feel the same so don't play all manly and insensitive because you may want to be an evil tyrant… but we both know that is the biggest lie either has said here tonight…"

There was a long pause.

"I really loved you…" he slowly nodded, "But I was sick of being overshadowed by you… you didn't care… it was embarrassing how far I came and people would always remember you first…" he sat down on his bed. "You were always better than me… now I'm going to be the one people will remember… you'll be the one people will know for losing to me after fifty two long years."

She found her way in, the little nerve she could use to twist things around with one sappy line. "I'm sorry I made you feel like that… because I didn't mean it… I just did what came naturally to me…" she took another step, folding her hands together, being so innocent. "You are still my husband whether either of still likes it…" she looked down at her feet. "If tomorrow is going to decide the fate of Ninjago between the two of us… then… it may be the last night I ever love you like I do right now again…"

Even she wanted to throw up it was so cheesy, stupid, and put on but he was always a sucker for the sappy lines whether he would admit to it or not. In all honesty she would yuck this up to the end of the world because she wanted to remember what it was like to love him again.

They were both manipulative in their own ways though and even Garmadon himself had his own plans of getting information out of her as well.

* * *

><p>Once the grunts in the main room where leaving, all they did was give Wu, disguised as one of them, a nod and left him alone just like that without any other suspicion. He took this grand opportunity to sit down and go through the computer files that had been made since so long ago when the kids found it.<p>

"Password?" he quietly cursed when the bar popped up. He looked at the keyboard. One wrong code and alarms could go off, "What would Garmadon make the password? What could it possibly be?" he asked himself.

One finger tapped on the desk till he shook his head and spelled his best guess out "M-I-S-A-K-O" he sighed and pressed enter. It had gotten him in to his surprise. He quickly searched the list of files, most of which were the old design ones, but there had to be even better new ones he was missing.

"There has to be a ghost drive…" he started checking the file numbers as fast as he could. Clicking on the lowest folder another password notice popped up. Another one? This would require thinking… or… no; it had to be the only other thing Garmadon would use. "L-L-O-Y-D".

Once more he was let in and started clicking on the blueprints. "Moonstones store lunar energy… used in Pokémon evolution primarily Clefairy and Skitty and other such variants…" he muttered to himself, reading over the specs that were a little detailed for him to read all of. "On a full moon they'll charge up… powering this part…" he traced his finger over the computer screen.

"Reverse World can be entered through a reflection on large specimen of moonstone… normally when the moon is at its peak, ideal is late evening or during an eclipse…" he rolled the studied information in his head. "Oh why did I not pay attention to moonstones when I was in school?" he drummed his fingers nervously.

"Stoneburrow has the greatest amount of evolution stone deposits including moonstones… but is also home to the museum… where… they hold the larger specimens that were uncovered of the moonstones… oh gosh he's going to steal from the museum… the weapon isn't… that's the cover… the moonstones don't power the machine… the machine traps Giritina by using the moonstones' dark properties to conceal Giritina and us his dark type powers against itself…"

He took the mask off and held his face, "What the hell are you trying to do brother? This will upset the balance of everything!"

Footsteps came to the door and Wu quickly plugged the USB chip and extracted the copies of the files and put the mask back on, closing the secret browsers. He had to leave right away, Misako would handle the rest for now and possibly stop Garmadon in the morning… he wondered what she was doing now if she was in his brother's room with him or one of her own.

**Way to go Misako, turning on the sap! Ah both manipulative people... such a perfect couple yea? Anyways more importantly, the information Wu finds... Lloyd, Nya, and Cole gonna have some trouble soon!**

**So I know I updated after like forever with stupid sappy and cheesy conversation that'll probably just make cringe rereading in a few months but hey, it's the best I got and I think things will work out nicely...**

**Aye it's 1 am... gotta run! Thanks for reading :D **

**~Mar**


	13. Chapter 12

Wu walked past the door to his brother's room, pressing an ear to it. There was muffled, quiet talking and he nodded to himself, palming the file in his pocket. This was the best way to do things… the professor started walking fast towards the entrance of the gym before anyone would see him or even notice that he had sneaked in and stole their ghost files.

As soon as he escaped he removed his mask and started running down the block, rounding a corner and paused to catch a breath, shakily removing a pokeball containing his Staraptor. He needed to get a hold of Nya and the others as quickly as possible. Wu grabbed his Xtransreciever and punched in the first name on the contacts list.

* * *

><p>The black haired teenager nearly rolled off his bed when the computer bursted to life, temporarily blinding him as he stumbled around his bedroom, searching for the enter key. The screen turned darker as Wu's face appeared.<p>

"Hmm? Professor?" he yawned, wiping an eye. "What's wrong? It's like… three am now…" he lowered himself into his desk chair. His Leafeon started barking loudly and he turned around, "Rocky, shut it!" he winced at the loud and annoying yapping noise.

"I am flying to Stoneburrow; I have very important information…" The wind started distorting the speaker. "I'll be there soon! I'll explain then!"

The gray eyed gym leader blinked when the screen went dark again. Cole sat back and held his hands to his face. From what Nya was chattering on about she and Lloyd were coming sometime in the next day or so; having Wu come by with some of the others would further grow Lloyd's suspicion of what was going on around him.

He started back into bed, tripping over Rocky's tail; earning another loud bark that made the eighteen year old freeze and look at the clock. "Cole! Cease that Pokémon's terrible barking!" A voice came from the other side of the wall.

"Sorry dad!" he quietly called back and picked his Leafeon up. "You are one big mouthed Pokémon… are you aware of that?" he plopped his partner on the foot of the bed. It was a shame he couldn't sleep anymore because of Wu told him.

* * *

><p>"Sir… the pawn is moving as you planned… shall we move in to take the… item of interest from the Skulkin?" the grunt with the white and red kabuki mask asked the man in the pitch black room. "They plan on bringing it back to the Black City gym later this evening…"<p>

"Hmmm…" a dark and airy voice hummed for a minute, considering the question his underling asked of him. "Why not Kozu? I think Garmadon should learn his place that his plans are still my plans… do as you see fit…" he shooed the admin away from his dark room.

* * *

><p>"Rise and shine sleeping beauty!" Lloyd groaned hearing Nya's painfully peppy voice. Eventually the gym leader pulled him to his feet, ready to go off down the route to the next town. "I thought you wanted to challenge your next gym!" she laughed.<p>

"I do Nya…" Lloyd yawned, picking his backpack up. The two friends walked side by side with the Eevees interacting behind them as they traveled. "I'm just really beat…"

As they walked on the forests started decreasing until they reached a stone archway gate with the town name: Stoneburrow City. Hardly any trees could be seen down the streets, maybe in a few backyards of homes but thinking about, it was a rock quarry and mining facility where they harvest precious evolution stones but were best known for the moonstones.

It was more or less industrial with tall buildings and factories around the edges of the town so there wouldn't be much pollution. On the road between here the neighboring Scraptown was the power plant.

Lloyd took note of the different characteristics of each town, Fire Temple Valley was crawling with many types, especially fire, Ninja Town held flying types, and Stoneburrow had plenty of strong fighting and rock types milling around and helping with work.

Nya led the green eyed teen right through the busy streets all the way towards the large structure known as this town's gym.

"HEY COLE! I GOTTA CHALLENGER FOR YA!" Nya basically kicked the doors open loudly and dramatically. Scale yipped, hoping to say hello to Rocky but the two never came.

Instead, a small attendant and ref in training scuttled in, "Miss Nya!" the small boy grinned. "Master Cole is currently seeing to a… visitor…" he looked back at the hall. "But I am sure you would be allowed to enter, you are a high ranking gym leader after all".

* * *

><p>"Mmmm…" Misako turned on her side. The sun was peeking through the blinds that weren't shut all of the way, streaking across her shut eyes. Besides that small annoyance she was at peace, wrapped up in warm sheets and loose fabric that hung around her body… wait… wasn't she doing something important?<p>

She opened one eye but shut it again, trying not to groan. He let her in the other night didn't he? And now it was do or die time in probably an hour or so unless Wu contacted her otherwise. There went her nice and easy going mood.

"Almost felt like how it used to be right?" she looked at the other side of the room. "When we were actually happy with one another? Before our true natures showed…"

She propped her head up on his pillows and heavily sighed. "No… your true nature showed…" Misako shook her head and looked down at what she was even wearing, seeing it was one of his shirts she blushed and tried to get her own shirt back on quickly, as if the shirt was the plague.

"Whatever you want to call it I really don't care…" he grimaced. Without another word he left the room by himself.

Misako couldn't help but have a scowl stuck on her face. Whatever happened last night was a bit of a blur for her but all she knew was that Wu had the information and would be alert everyone else now.

With a click of her fingers Yin came running to her heels.

* * *

><p>"Come on Lloyd," she pushed her friend by the shoulder to get him moving down the long hallway that wrapped round the whole main battle field. "Hey Cole? What's up?" she poked her head in his main office. "Professor?" she blinked.<p>

Lloyd perked up at the title, "Uncle Wu!?" he shoved right past Nya with a grin. The older man looked at his nephew, forgetting that they would be here, though he was counting on it being later that night and not so early.

"Uh yes, hello Lloyd, I was here on business with Cole…" The two quickly shut the tabs they were looking at and Wu stuffed the USB chip in his coat pocket. "I should be on my way…" he looked back at the darker skinned teenager. "I have a few more stops… it was good to see you Lloyd but I'm afraid I'm swamped with work and need to run-"

"Ah come on!" Lloyd groaned. "I haven't seen you in pretty much two weeks in real life and you just leave without staying for a gym battle?"

Wu tapped his foot debating it. Of course he wanted to watch his nephew battle it out with Cole. He sighed and shook his head, "Maybe another gym… I'm sorry Lloyd…" he nodded to Nya and stepped out. Lloyd folded his arms and grumbled.

"It's for the best kid," Cole told him. "I mean he's a busy guy… but uh… what's this about a gym challenge?" he tried to steer the conversation around; hopefully a battle would cheer Lloyd up.

The blonde was about to open his mouth when a loud boom shook the entire town. Cole and Nya were out of there in a flash, leaving Lloyd confused as to what just happened. Finally he started running after them, hoping to help.

**What's this? A past midnight update? Cuz I can B) **

**Getting inspiration for this one again! Forcing your self to write sometimes can help XD but it can also end badly and make you scrap everything... trust me XD **

**Thanks for reading! :D **

**~Mar**


	14. Chapter 13

"Cole!" Lloyd heard a bunch of people run towards the black clothed gym leader. The smoke was seen over the trees and buildings, "Some men in masks and suits came planted charges! We're sorry we couldn't get to stopping them!"

"It's not your fault…" Cole tried to calm the workers down and then turned back to Nya, "Got my back on this if I go in?" he asked her.

She nodded, hand clutching her pokeball necklace, and went to start moving but Lloyd interrupted, "Wait… like the guys that busted up the restaurant back at the valley?" the boy in green asked; neither gym leader answered him on that and he grimaced, "Come on, I have two badges… I can help!" he stomped one foot, "You guys know my parents were once great pokemon masters! I can be just as great as they were!"

_"If only the kid knew…" _ The black haired leaders shared the same thought.

* * *

><p>"What the hell was that!?" Garmadon heard the faintest of explosions from a few cities over. He and Misako ran outside. The black smoke that collected in the air like a mushroom like cloud was so high even everyone in Black City could see it came from Stoneburrow.<p>

Misako covered her mouth, "Oh no…"

"What?" he snapped at her; feeling intensely irritated with how his day was going so far. He knew that his own men were busy mining there today and knew, though they were dumb, they weren't dumb enough to blow themselves up like that… maybe... "Why are you freaking out!? It's my men that are down there!"

She clenched her teeth and glared at him, "Our son just arrived today you idiot!"

He opened his mouth but couldn't find anything to say other than, "Then we need to go there!" he went for his pokeball when she smacked his hand.

"Cute idea sweetheart but he's not suppose to know we're still alive!" she growled. Sure he was sixteen but she wanted to explain everything on her own with her husband there, surely he would make Lloyd discount everything she told him, being leaving him behind was her idea in the first place.

He folded his arms and they glared at one another, "Well then, I guess I'll have to wear a stupid mask like what my idiot henchmen wear… no one screw my plans up like this!"

Misako sighed and shook her head; hopefully it was Wu was doing a controlled sabotage of the plan; though she knew he wasn't this drastic when getting a point across.

* * *

><p>"Look kid…" Cole rolled his head back, annoyed that they can't be left to take care of this, knowing that it was Tem Skull and anymore information about them would result in Lloyd finding out his father and even mother was still alive. "You just can't… I am a third rank gym leader and I have authority over you… and Ny is a sixth rank one so she has even more authority than I do…"<p>

Nya and Cole sprinted off without the blonde who stood with his feet planted on the ground. Lloyd scrunched his nose and looked at his little Eevee whose tail was swishing like he was ready for a good fight. "Follow them?" he raised an eyebrow. Dragon yapped and Lloyd picked him up and started running off with a grin.

* * *

><p>The two older gym leaders' feet touched the ground and they looked around, searching for any sign of the troublemakers that blew up the mines. Garmadon though, was more interested in making sure his moonstones were still intact… and… maybe his son.<p>

"GUYS!" They heard a scratch teenager's voice and the hid around a corner, seeing Lloyd dash by. His father narrowed his eyes, trying to get a good look at the boy who ran past them without a second glance. There was no mistaken, his son was the spitting image of him.

"_That's_ Lloyd?" Garmadon gaped at his only child and how much things really changed in sixteen years, he almost felt guilty for choosing this path and not being about to raise his own son.

His wife looked back and sighed, moving on without him, "Go make sure your men are okay… I'm finding Cole and Nya…" she sneered, speed walking away from him.

The taller one almost considered running after her but decided to split and go in a different direction.

* * *

><p>Cole and Nya smiled when they saw Misako join them as they had happened, "My son is following you…" she panted, spying around the corner of the facility they were about to break into to see what was happening. "Whatever this is… it wasn't Skulkin…"<p>

"Zane is in the neighbor hood and said he'd join in and I'm sure Jay will come running…" Cole leaned back, informing her of the back-up situation.

"Someone else is sabotaging them?" Nya blinked and exchanged glances with Cole, returning to the topic at hand "Did the professor do this?"

Misako shook her head quickly, "No; he would never…" she looked at their partner pokemon, "Come on let's get this over with before Lloyd catches up and sees me or his father…"

"You mean Garmadon's here?" Cole's mouth dropped.

"He wanted to be here… trust me I wanted him to sit on his butt and ignore this… but when you screw with his plans then…" she groaned in frustration. "I just hate him and his stubbornness…" she started walking inside with the teenagers behind.

The two black haired ones tried not to smirk or laugh because Misako could be just as stubborn and pushy as Garmadon was. They would never tell her, but the two were made for each other, there was no mistaken it.

"Who goes there?!" Gruff voices asked. Two faces popped up. They wore masks but they weren't skulls like Garmadon's team, they were kabuki like ones. Misako's mouth was glued shut and she started trembling.

"Who are they!?" the earth gym leader looked a little startled at the new comers, "Misako?" Cole looked very concerned for her new state. She looked pale and her eyes were now wide.

The tall one with the white and red mask deeply chuckled, "My have you aged Champion Misako… my boss sends his best wishes… I guess he expected you to be so predictable and come here Esper… maybe he should take the title now!"

Her blood boiled at the way he taunted her. Her brow furrowed and she had an angrily look now on her face, "Admin Kozu…" she darkly said and looked back, "that is his name," she said it to the fighting type and earth trainers behind her. "He's a member of Team Stone… and his boss is Akuma… or you might have heard instead… The Overlord"

**Yay! I finally found where this section would lead into :3 Hope you guys liked it XP **

**Thanks for reading sweeties!**

**~Mar**


	15. Chapter 14

"Garmadon sir!" Whiplash and the others quickly saluted the older man looking very upset and scared of their leader's wrath. "It's that old Team Stone! They never disbanded turns out!" Bonezai shouted more loudly than what was needed.

"What do you mean!? Who's their leader?" Garmadon growled.

"He's fighting your wife and the younger two gym leaders!" Kruncha said next. "He called himself… Akuma?"

The blood drained from Garmadon's face and he turned right around to find Misako, Cole, and Nya, leaving his men very confused. "Where's he going? Why does he even care?" Krazi raised an eyebrow.

* * *

><p>Lloyd sighed, looking around the empty street, "Great… I lost them again!" the blonde grumbled and started down an alley way in search of the missing rock and fighting type trainers, the padding of Dragon's feet brushed the ground behind him.<p>

"I'm telling you Nya said it was important Jay… Scraptown is literally ten miles away and you have a flying type that can fly you! Why are behaving in such a manner?" Lloyd heard a pair of voices talking. They sounded vaguely familiar.

A scoffing sound was heard, "Told ya Zane… Nya and I… weren't exactly working out right now… she keeps running off and stuff for Wu and we're in two different gyms that are like… miles apart… plus she doesn't have a flying type like me or most of us… I'm starting to think she's avoiding me!"

Lloyd was about to ignore them and walk on but then around the corner came an auburn haired boy and a platinum haired one. They both stopped and looked back at Lloyd. "Lloyd Garmadon?" the one called Jay blinked his wide sapphire eyes. "Oh gosh it really is you!" he laughed. "Man we haven't seen you in like… five years! That's when we got our Pokémon!" he gestured to the other called Zane.

"Jay and Zane… right? The electric and ice type gym leaders?" Lloyd asked looking around. He had heard them mention about Cole and Nya. "I got separated from Cole and Nya so are you guys looking for them too? Is something bad happening at the mines?"

The two exchanged looks. They knew Misako was in the main facility. If Lloyd heard her name, let alone see her that would sidetrack the main issue of Team Stone.

"Lloyd you need to go back…" Zane finally said. The green eyed teen blinked in surprise. "We have this I promise you," they ran past him.

Lloyd and his Eevee were almost speechless as they also took off, telling him to stay behind. What was so important about staying behind? Was there something more he wasn't supposed to see yet? Giving it half a moment's thought, he scooped Dragon up and barreled down the street once more, ignoring whatever warning they were discreetly giving him.

* * *

><p>"Look at you Misako…" Akuma gave a sneaky grin and clapped his hands together, "Even with all that gray you're still as lovely as ever…" the green eyed woman just stared at him. "You and Garmy getting along? How's the baby of yours? Hope's well-"<p>

"Shut up…" she clenched her teeth together. "After I disbanded Skulkin the first time five years ago… you ditched and… it was like you never existed… for a while… I thought… I thought were dead… how can you make every record in Ninjago think you were dead and never existed?!"

"Nice party trick right?" he chuckled, "Little did any of you know… your new champion?" he grinned with his teeth showing, "Well now I didn't want to blow it all but… well that's me!"

Cole and Nya's gray and brown eyes widened, "That's impossible! You look…"

"What? Nothing like him?" Akuma folded his arms, "Tell me… when did anyone see the new champion that took his place not five months ago? I have been biding my time over the years and being champion? Well people respect you when you hold that title… all a part of my Team Stone revival!" He held his arms out dramatically. "And no one will believe it was their Overlord leading them into a new and better world!"

"Misako-!" Garmadon skidded to a halt and gaped at his former friend who left his team to be disbanded. "It really was you!" he growled. "You abandoned us!"

Akuma rolled his eyes, "Here we go again with that… I was just telling your wife that little story about how I made it all the way to her former position…" Zane and Jay were the next to come through the doors. "Well I would love to stay and chat old friend, but I have some shipments to steal from you… you've been a good boy gathering all the information and resources… I myself have been hacking into your computers without any of you knowing and copying information so I must really thank you Garmadon".

He didn't know what to say to that. He lunged forward and grabbed his old friend by the collar, "Listen you piece of scum… how dare you use me and my men like that! You play dead for five years just to resurrect the old team that failed you!?"

"I see you're more than a little pissed…" the paler one laughed as Garmadon almost was grabbing his throat. "Think about this though; why not just merge our teams together? Be a good and right team like it used to be!"

Garmadon looked back at Misako. Her emerald eyes said everything she could get out. _"Please… forget all of this and stop them forever… let me love you again…"_

His own desire took over and he released Akuma, "Alright…" he didn't look back at the others. "Let's get out of here then-"

Something smacked the side of his face. After a moment of confusion Misako was standing there. "You… idiot…" she shook her head and ran out.

He mindlessly, still shocked, held a hand to the red print of her hand as he watched the doors swing shut. He looked at Cole, Jay, Zane, and Nya and growled, "Well!? What are you looking at you dumb brats!? Get out of here!"

"HEY! GUYS!?" It was Lloyd's voice and that meant it was time to get out of here.

The four teenagers turned to the doors when the boy in the green hoodie nearly collapsed on the floor from his run over there. "Did… did you get em!? What's… what's up!?"

"…Escaped…" Nya walked past him and the boys followed her back to Cole's gym. The blonde looked surprised at the sudden change in their tune.

"Come on… you can challenge me in a little bit…" Cole patted Lloyd's shoulder when he walked by. He was personally worried about Misako and what she would do now.

* * *

><p>Wu found her at the rendezvous point, at the gate to the City. She was sitting on the ground with Yin on her lap, licking her face as the little lavender Pokémon did whenever her trainer was upset about something. "Misako… Misako what's wrong!?" she was crying? Did he ever see her actually do that come to think of it?<p>

She looked up and wiped one eye, "You're brother is useless…" she growled in frustration. "He's back Wu… Akuma… he's the new champion and he took Garmadon away again… the same dumb trick… he never learns!"

He sat next to her and put an arm around her, rubbing her shoulder. "Then we have an entirely new situation… did Lloyd see either of you?" He remembered. He of never saw Lloyd run her way but knew he would always jump in to the help the younger gym leaders.

"No thank God…" she sighed. "Well… I mean I did run past him but my face was sort of covered and I was running. He didn't really give me a second look…"

"So what now? Zane and Jay are here…"

"But so is Lloyd…"

"I'll get just Zane to uncover some stuff for me. I decoded some of the other files and I figured out they have a secret base up in the mountains by Birchwood and Zane knows them well enough to go investigate," Wu explained, showing the USB drive holding all of Skulkin's research. "So… now we have to deal with Team Stone like my father did…"

"I guess so…" she nodded.

"What do you plan on doing now Misako? You never got a chance to battle him…"

His friend let out a heavy sigh, remembering that first plan. Now that Akuma had him under his foot again there was no turning back. Maybe if he was still dead like everyone thought Garmadon eventually lose steam with his "diabolical" plan and return home at last.

"I'm going to wait at my gym… I'm going to go over every last piece of that hard drive and I'm going to find out what they want with Giritina and their plans after it…" Wu handed her the drive and she got up. "Then Nya will let me know when Lloyd is on the trail to Ninjago City… then I'll find him and he's going to know he's my baby and that his father is a terrible man…" she started walking with her Espeon. "Call me when you have Zane getting on that investigation…"

Wu stood up too, "I will… see you later then…"

She waved behind as she walked on down the road.

**DUN DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUH... So yea new champion of all people right? The Overlord? And Garmadon just walks right back over with him. Poor Misako...**

**But hey, Cole VS Lloyd in the next chapter! :D I'm happy I'm updating today because tomorrow I'll be at Universal Studios for my friend's birthday all day and I may not have been able to update stuff! :D **

**Thanks for reading! **

**~Mar**


	16. Chapter 15

Finally Lloyd stood on the other side of the field, having a battle with the third gym leader; Cole Stone and his rock types. He wondered if he could beat the taller trainer as he was still deciding what Pokémon he would use first.

Nya stood as the mediator and looked at both boys, "This match is between gym leader Cole Stone and challenger Lloyd Garmadon!" she gestured to the blonde. "This will be a two on two match and only the challenger may exchange his Pokémon!" she announced the rules loudly. "Challenger goes first! And… GO!"

Lloyd looked a little surprised when she said it'd be a two Pokémon match but the battle started and Cole plucked a pokeball off his belt and threw it, "I choose Crustle!" The hermit crab like Pokémon came out in a flash, waving his pinchers in the air.

Lloyd, bit his lip, "Okay… I choose… Vivillion!" his butterfly like Pokémon came out. She did a little flashy twirl to show off her gorgeous pink and blue wings. "Now Vivillion, let's show him how we fight!"

"VIV!" she squealed.

"Use air cutter!" Lloyd called out. She fluttered her wings again in big swoops, sending a swoops of wind at the Crustle.

"Shell smash!" Cole called out. The Crustle hopped out of his shell and his exoskeleton cracked and exploded as he glowed red. Once on the ground he crawled back into his little rock shell. "Now Crustle; use rock blast!"

The first rock, Vivillion barely dodged it. As more came, the more tired she got until one landed smack in her face. _"Shell smash lowers the defenses but raises attack…" _Lloyd swallowed, uneasy about what to do. His Pokémon was a bug and fairy type. He could use draining kiss but it might not be enough to survive a battle with the Crustle.

"Okay try using draining kiss!" the green eyed trainer decided to go with.

Nya watched back and forth tentatively; she knew Cole would never go easy on a kid like Lloyd. She only was able to defeat the dark skinned boy was just because she used fighting types; a rock type's weakness. He may have set the rules to two Pokémon, but he was still strong.

Vivillion gained little health back but it wasn't enough for Crustle's beefed up attacks and the moth Pokemon quickly fainted. Lloyd on had one more shot to break the irritating Crustle, however, without much thinking, he sent out Feebas.

The brown fish Pokémon flopped around pathetically and Nya hit her forehead. They never had the chance to train Feebas and he could have tried to rely on Eevee's assist attack. It wasn't like he could take the move back, once a Pokémon was thrown out onto the field; that was that.

* * *

><p>"We think that Skulkin or… I suppose Stone is planning something with a small base that was abandoned by Stone years ago… what do you think?" Wu was sitting round the computer screen with Zane, showing him all of the schematics he stole.<p>

The pale teenager nodded with a smile, "Oh I think this will be most interesting…" he smirked. "Shard and I will have the rundown of security in no time professor; just leave it all to us!"

The old man patted the younger's shoulder, "Naturally! Good luck and be safe! Make sure if you can in to plug this USB drive into their main systems computer and it will shut them down long enough to bring in others and arrest them before they get any chance to continue the experiments I know is going on there…" he petted the Glaceon before leaving the office and back to report in to the other leaders.

* * *

><p>Lloyd felt his face grow warm with embarrassment he called out such a weak Pokémon. "Well… no matter I guess…" the blonde snapped the Pokémon at attention. "Feebas; use water gun!" he ordered.<p>

The fish ceased his flailing and shot a strong beam of water from his mouth that sent the opponent flying across the field; fainted. "OH YEA!" Lloyd hopped. Then he remembered Cole had one more.

"Alright Rhydon! Let's finish them off!" Cole smirked as his huge rock type loomed over the water type.

"WATER GUN!"

"EARTHQUAKE!"

The earthquake made Feebas fall over and miss his target. The field cracked a little and then stopped when the move was over. "Rhydon; let's finish this with a horn drill!"

Lloyd started spluttering his commands, "Dodge! Do something you dumb fish!" he shouted, panicking.

It was a short battle and Lloyd never expected it to end like that so quickly. He recalled the Pokémon to his ball and sighed. One thing that was true people said; Cole was the heavy hitter of the league and liked to end battles quickly.

"You put up a decent fight but you might want to try and catch some more Pokémon or evolve the ones you do have…" he looked at Dragon and frowned. "Ever thought about which one you wanted to evolve him?"

The Eevee barked angrily and Lloyd scratched behind his ears, "I think he likes being just the way he is… I didn't think it'd be right to evolve him if he didn't want it…"

"Tell ya what kid, travel with Nya some more; she can teach you a lot…" he elbowed her playfully. "And challenge the next gym over, Jay, then come see me again when you're all leveled up and ready to give me some payback…"

Lloyd grinned and nodded, feeling a bit better about the lost battle. He and Nya walked over to the Pokemon Center where they healed his Pokémon and rented a room for the night.

Scale licked Nya's face until she was awake and picked up her Transceiver from her back pack and plopped it on her chest. She sat up and saw the incoming call and looked back at Lloyd who looked to have fallen asleep. Not wanting to risk anything, she left the room and stood in the nearest closet, pressing the answer button.

"Professor?" she yawned, wiping one eye. It was so bright in the little, dark room she sat in. Her Sylveon stuck her head in frame as well to greet her breeder.

"Zane's scoping out the Birchwood base right now… are you close? He'll need some back up and I preferred if you went to have his back…"

The black haired girl bit her lip, "Still in Stoneburrow and I can't just leave Lloyd… especially now that he lost his first gym match… I promised to take him to Scraptown tomorrow…"

"I see…" he sighed. "It's okay… maybe Kai or Cole will go instead since you nor Jay can make it… Misako's off on her own doing who knows what… just keep an eye on Lloyd… he can't know a thing yet and he's a curious little thing…"

"Aye aye prof!" she grinned and signed off.

She got out of the closet and buried her head under the covers, worried for the others now that Garmadon had rejoined with Akuma, so far, things were not all too well. If Zane was caught, then that was even worse because they would find out that they had the chip with their info.

She couldn't worry herself with that. She had a job right now and that was help Lloyd like what Cole and the others said. Their league was in just Zane's quite capable hands for now.

**You can't win every battle right? Ugh I've been sick and haven't been writing as much as I should... I've been bored lately... IDK... but hey, have a new chapter :D**

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Mar**


	17. Chapter 16

The machine whirled to life, creating fake lightning. The huge moonstones from Stoneburrow glowed brightly and then died down a little shortly after. One of the scientists gave the okay and the two older men stepped into the lab to see what happened with the experiment.

Instead of just a reflection however, they saw something more through the stone. Akuma tried to stick his hand in through but it wouldn't be allowed to pass. "We're getting close…" he frowned. "Perhaps we need the real thing…"

"The abandoned ruins of the Floating City would do…" Garmadon tapped the surface of the moonstone curiously. Even with his research team he wasn't able to come this far into the understanding of the Reverse World. "It produce lightning all the time and it's stronger than anything we can make…"

"No one will be able to stop us at this point…" the other greedily grinned. "Come on… let's make plans to move the research team to the Floating Ruins…"

"Oh my look at all of this…" Zane sighed, speaking to his partner. "Shard… what do you think we should do?" the hid low in the thin layer of snow, his pale features and white clothing giving him the perfect natural camouflage. She yipped a little and started rolling around in the powder. He shook his head, "Maybe you love the snow a little much sweetie…"

The turquoise and blue Pokémon stood at attention not long after he commented on that and she started sniffing the air. "What is it?" he whispered, looking back over. Several people were moving out, one of which was Garmadon. "Oh my… where are they going?" he mumbled quietly.

"Floating Ruins! Step it up!" Kozu was shouting at the others who were fumbling around behind them.

"That's not far from Scraptown…" Zane sighed. He didn't see Akuma so he knew he was staying behind most likely. Even he gave the fifth ranking ice gym leader the shivers. This would not go over well. He pulled out his Transceiver. "Can anyone hear me? It's Zane… Garmadon and a team of scientists are heading to the Floating Ruins… I am starting my infiltration to place the USB Virus now…"

He didn't wait for anyone to respond to the message and got up, Shard following him. Hopefully someone would hear it soon and come over to help him in his time of need.

* * *

><p>Lloyd looked around at the barren wastelands they had to walk through to get to Scraptown. It was in the middle of nowhere it seemed. "So Lloyd… why not try and catch a ground type-? Something's on your back!" Nya jumped back a couple of feet.<p>

Lloyd yelped and looked around trying to see what was on him while Dragon loudly barked, biting at something. A small orange Pokémon tumbled onto the ground and Lloyd blinked, crouching down. "What… is that?" he forgot his panicked state and pulled out the pokedex, now intrigued by the strange creature.

"Trapinch," Nya stated before the dex could read it off to the new trainer. "Trust me it's way cooler than it looks. It can evolve into a Vibrava, a flying type". Lloyd blinked and looked back. "Wanna try and catch it?" she raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"Okay I'll try…" Lloyd took out a pokeball, calling Vivillion out. "String shot!"

The butterfly like Pokémon shot the string out and the tinier Pokémon shrieked and burrowed back underground to hide from the blonde boy. "Aww…" Lloyd looked upset that it ran away instead of fighting him like he had hoped.

Nya patted him on the back, "Sorry… most of them are timid and run away from fights… maybe you'll find another Pokémon you'll like even better". She led him on. "Now you should start thinking about ground types, they'll be very effect against Jay's Pokémon". She talked on, giving him tips and type match ups that would help him.

From behind though the little orange bug poked his head out of the ground and started burrowing a little tunnel after the two and their Eevees.

* * *

><p>Jay yawned and started dozing off in his desk chair when Wisp screeched loudly, making the auburn haired teen fall backwards in the seat, right on the floor. "WISP!" he growled angrily at his wise guy partner who seemed to find his trainer's anger amusing. "What the hell!?"<p>

The Jolteon dropped his Xtransreciever on his chest and Jay blinked his sapphire blue eyes; he saw a light was flashing; showing he had a message. "Oh no it's from Zane…" he pressed it, listening to the short recording that was sent out to the nearest signal on his emergency call contacts list. He then checked the time it was sent, "Almost an hour ago…" he groaned.

He didn't want to leave however because he knew Nya would be coming by to visit with Lloyd. He missed Nya so much, it was shame they were so far apart, it was starting to strain the relationship a little bit, but the electric type trainer kept on trying, always calling her and trying to surprise her with visits with his Pokémon.

He couldn't just leave, "Kai or Cole will have to take this one…" he slowly got up from the awkward position he was just in. He felt the blood rush from his head when he got back upright, feeling a bit dizzy. He sent the message on to the other two boys and scratched Wisp's ear.

* * *

><p>"Yea the kid didn't do so hot against me," Cole chuckled. "Guess I'm too amazing for him…" he gloated at the fact Kai lost to Lloyd but he didn't.<p>

The spiky haired brunette just rolled his eyes on the other side of the screen, "Is that all you wanted to call about? To gloat? You're so immature Cole…" Flame yipped in agreement. Rocky growled at him on the other side of the webcam and two started a barking fighting through the webcams.

"Haha I wish that's all this call was for, but no… we have something way more important… Jay passed this along to me," he passed it along to Kai and the red clothed one looked at his own Xtransreciever when it was received, looking puzzled. "Apparently Jay only got it because his signal was the closest one but it's from Zane, broadcasting from the Birchwood Forests…"

Kai played it for himself and looked back at Cole. "We gotta help him!" he got out of his chair. "He could get caught if someone doesn't do something! Akuma is there for cryin out loud! He'll get murdered like my parents did! Hell, Akuma could burn Birchwood City to the ground if he finds out!"

"My thoughts exactly," Cole sighed. "I'll see you in Birchwood City then… we can talk more to Zane's dad there and figure out a little more about the situation because as far as I know, Wu and Misako are off on their own as of now and don't plan on being in the field…"

The two signed off and went for their flying types that would carry them off to Birchwood City.

* * *

><p>Nya looked at her beeping Xtransreciever and then Lloyd who was curiously looking at it. "You gonna answer? Who's it from? Your brother?"<p>

"No…" she sighed. "It's from Jay I think…" she felt her heart grow heavy but she knew just what the call was about, it was the forwarded message. "I'll just talk to him when we get to Scraptown, we are almost there…"

She saw there was another text, from Cole this time; _Going to Birchwood City with Kai, there could be a possible reliving of Fire Temple Valley massacre if Zane isn't careful…_

Tears pricked the corners of her brown eyes when she read that, naturally being reminded of her parents that were killed while her home town burned. She discreetly texted him back; _Good luck boys._

She shut the screen off and pocketed it; Lloyd just shrugged it off, not giving it a second thought as they traveled the trail through the wasteland.

**Hehe, Julien's a comin into the story in the next chapter. Let's see if my skills on writing him have become any better! I love writing the four dragons+ultra as pokemon XD Wisp is a sassy wise guy, Rocky and Flame like to yap at one another, Shard, she's all playful, Dragon's sort of the traits of all four combined... XD **

**Thanks for reading! **

**~Mar**


	18. Chapter 17

"There it is…" Nya let out a breath, gesturing to the place known as Scraptown. It was like a town sort of from the old west or at least inspired by it, just with a bunch of new looking buildings. "Yea it's a… unique place," she laughed at Lloyd's reaction to it. "Lot's of… strange modern art… Jay's parents are the head architects and in charge of building and stuff… they're really nice…"

A small squeak was heard and Lloyd looked down upon hearing his Eevee bark at something. "It's the Trapinch?" his emerald eyes were wide.

"Look at that…" the fighting type smile and squatted down. "Did you follow us all the way here?" Lloyd thought it was rather cute whenever Nya talked to Pokémon like she really understood what they were saying. "I think he wants to come along Lloyd, like you said happened with the Feebas; get out a pokeball!"

Lloyd did so and the Trapinch; much like his Scatterbug; bopped its nose against the button and the pokeball accepted its new contents. They started down the main road to where the gym was when the ball made its famous ping noise. "Hey Nya…?" he side glanced.

"Yea Lloyd?" she looked beside at him.

"You talk to Pokémon like you know what they're saying to you… how does that work exactly?" he raised his eyebrow when he asked her.

She laughed again and shook her head, "You don't have to have some supernatural power that is bestowed on people… anyone who tries can learn it… most people communicate through their auras with Pokémon…"

Lloyd still looked confused, "Auras?"

Nya laughed, "I took a good lesson from Misa-… the Ninjago City gym leader that trained me…" she coughed, quickly correcting herself. "I captured a Riolu when I was still training and that Pokémon communicates with auras or soul kind of… guess I learned how harness the same thing… it's sort of cool if you have the time to study it, you can connect to so many Pokémon... it's sort of funny how Pokémon have just been following you around and wanting to go with you… guess you have a special aura about you too…"

She tilted her head; now that she thought about, Lloyd was the son of Garmadon and Misako, he could just have some sort of natural ability to be a Pokémon trainer that is just so in tune with Pokémon.

Lloyd stopped but she kept walking, "Wow… you can hear them talking?"

"Not really… I can feel them though… it can take a while to learn though so don't get your hopes up," she waved it off. "It's really just a deeper bond you can make with a Pokémon, you can become even closer to Dragon even," she pointed the Eevee trotting along.

Lloyd's face suddenly lit up, "Hey! What if you take me to Ninjago City next? Maybe I can learn some stuff from your teacher!"

Nya was taken aback by his quick and sudden request. Misako was the seventh gym leader and never accepted anybody without six other badges, no way would she make an exception for Lloyd, he had to grow and learn on this journey before seeing her.

The fighting type gym leader sighed, "Well, she won't accept you right now I think…"

"But you just said it could come naturally… you started training under her when you were like eleven right? You didn't have any badges then… so why wouldn't she take me?" he looked confused.

"Listen, just be patient, you'll get to meet her soon…" Lloyd still frowned and she punched his shoulder "Now come on!" she started running, "Knowing Jay this time of day, he's at my favorite noodle shop and I think we'll need to get something o eat before you go off and challenge my boyfriend!"

The blonde's eyebrows twitched up. Nya never said he was her boyfriend until now. She always hinted that they liked each other from what she said to Kai a couple of days ago but boyfriend?

The two teenagers walked into the small shop and Nya looked around. "Let's see let's see…"

"Nya!? Is that you!" a girl with red curls looked over with a smile. "Hey girl!"

"Misty!" Nya high fived, "Seen the mouth of lightning you have for a cousin around?"

The freckled woman turned and pointed, "Usual place, left back window corner," she looked at Lloyd. "And who's this cutie?" Lloyd blushed when the older woman called him that.

"Professor Wu's nephew, Lloyd, he's going to challenge Jay but right now I'm starving!" She slid into the seat across from Jay who looked up at her with a grin. "Hey sparky!" she reached across and fluffed his auburn hair.

"NYA!" he jumped to his feet and walked around. "I missed hugging you for real! And never got to last time I saw you a couple of days ago!" he squeezed her tightly. "I didn't expect you'd be happy to see me…"

"I was being stupid…" she shrugged. "I know you get busy here… so hey, you remember Lloyd right?" she gestured to the teen she was traveling around with.

"How can I forget Wu's nephew?" he chuckled and shook hands. "Nice to see ya again buddy, how ya doing? Nya treating you well?" he looked at her with a wide grin as she looked at him quizzically. "She was always the best out of everyone who trained with your- the Ninjago City gym leader!"

Lloyd blinked, just barely hearing the stutter to his sentence. Now that he thought about it, Nya almost did the same thing just before. "Yea Nya's great," he finally said. "She helped me evolve my Scatterbug… twice…" he chuckled. "And we just caught a Trapinch," he brandished the pokeball happily.

"Nya's the best most helpful person to travel with, I should know," he kissed her cheek, making her blush. "So how about after lunch we have that battle?"

"Sounds great!"

* * *

><p>Zane was the quietest out of the small group trained by Misako. He took a liking to ice types which for the most part were a type with finesse and even stealth like a dark type, maybe Wu would go as far as to call him a ninja that's how good he was for a fifteen year old.<p>

Shard was also light on her feet as she followed through the ventilation shafts, something Skulkin or Stone would never actually go up into to make sure no one was breaking in. He constantly heard people walking and talking below him as he tried to listen and navigate to a lab with computers to download the virus to stall them.

He then received a text from Cole and Kai:

_We're outside, if you hear a boom, that's us. Make sure you get in and out without being noticed! Then we'll head over to the floating ruins!_

Zane fumbled to acknowledge their text and he continued moving.

He felt the rumble of Cole's rock types shake the old facility, even bang him around a little in his shaft, which was not the most comfortable thing ever mind you.

Alarms started blaring and that's when he decided to seize this opportunity to slip right by everyone who was in a rush. He found the nearest room with a computer and whipped out the chip. One small problem, scientists were rushing everywhere to secure the labs. Could anything be easy?

He peaked through with Shard on his shoulder and sighed, "Well… I guess I can always sneak in since there are only three of them…" he saw they were hovering around some form of schematics. "Come on…" he quietly slipped in.

He never even made it five steps inside.

**I like to think Jay and Nya loved each other and dated but things always get in the way being gym leaders from two separate cities that aren't all that close together lol so she gets peeved from time to time at him haha... plus I wanted Lloyd to be like "Wait... is he your boyfriend or not?"**

**Also, I know Jay's not with Kai or Cole, but I wanted to sort of reenact the whole getting the bird scene from "The Dark Island" episode when Zane goes to get the bird? Well in this case, Jay will pry be texting back and forth and it's with a computer virus XD **

**I also remembered the whole Pokemon aura thing and thought, since Nya's a fighting type, why not give her a bit of a special ability? Ya know? Lloyd sort of will have a natural one being his parents were some pretty amazing trainers and he has a natural feel with Pokemon... also as you can see I subtly work in OCs just for the fun of it who have no significance other than a small shtick...**

**Thanks for reading! **

**~Mar**


	19. Chapter 18

There were only three that Zane saw in through the small window, there were really around seven and they jump him right when he came creeping in. Everyone was on high alert now that Kai and Cole broke in to start a diversion.

The red and black clothed teenaged gym leaders ran through with all of their big Pokémon out; spraying fire, rocks, and shaking the ground at every last Team Stone grunt while they went to find their friend who was most likely in trouble.

Zane sighed and looked beside at Shard who was in a cage just a little too small for her to be sitting comfortably. She growled angrily, biting the bars and barking loudly. The older men and women kept glaring at the Glaceon to shut its yap but she kept on screeching. Two more followed and Zane looked up.

He knew Shard was calling out to Flame and Rocky so they could find them without taking up too much time.

"PANGORO! ARM THRUST!" Cole shouted from the other side. The giant bear like Pokémon busted the door and even part of the wall down. Immediately, the group of scientists raised their arms up, surrendering.

"The door was unlocked you know!" one of the women shouted angrily, looking at the demolished door.

Kai took Shard out of her cage and he untied Zane who whipped out the drive and plugged it in. "Come on!" he started running out. "Garmadon and Kozu are heading straight for the Floating Ruins! Something about an experiment with the moonstones they stole the other day!"

"Argh… and my sister and Lloyd are over that way…" the fire type trainer wiped his face. It was always something conveniently by Lloyd it seemed.

* * *

><p>Lloyd looked at his pokeballs with a frown; it wasn't like this was going to be easy, his Pokémon where all that strong and the Trapinch wouldn't hold up all on his own. He looked at Nya who looked back and frowned back him. She slowed her pace so she could walk side by side with him.<p>

"Something bugging you?" she asked the newer trainer.

"Yea, I don't think I'm going to do very well when we get back is all…" he sighed.

She was about to answer when three very familiar boys came running over to them. "Guys!?" Nya and Jay blinked, wondering what made them be in such a rush.

"Floating Ruins!" Cole gasped for air, pointing towards the outskirts of Scraptown. "Team Stone is there! And it's not going to be good! We can promise that! They're working on the Reverse World Project!"

Jay nodded, "Then we can't waste any time then! Come on you two!"

"You sure taking him along is a good idea?!" Nya looked worried.

The blonde folded his arms, "What, am I not cool enough to be in your secret gym leader squad or something because you all have really strong Pokémon!?" he started looking very mad now. "You guys always say for me to stay behind…"

"Fine, you can come but we have to go _right now_," Nya rolled her eyes and grabbed the other's arm, dragging him along with the other boys. She eventually let go when Lloyd was able to keep up in pace with them.

"What about you know who!?" Kai whispered to his sister.

"I'm thinking about that one!" Nya growled back, wanting him to shut up before Lloyd heard anything more about why they didn't want him to come along.

* * *

><p>The Floating Ruins were called this for a very obvious reason; they floated high above the region. No one knows why but it also attracts great amounts of lightning and from what Zane was describing; it would be the perfect place to stage an experiment to the Reverse World.<p>

Kai pulled out a pokeball, "Charizard, we'll need your help!" the fire and flying type came out and looked down at his trainer. "We'll be needing a lift up to the ruins," he pointed up. "Think you're tough enough to carry us all?"

Charizard roared his respond, spreading his wings and Kai grinned, climbing on. "Come on guys! No time to lose!"

Cole was the only one unsure about climbing on. It took everyone clucking like a chicken to mock to get him to climb on, Lloyd laughed though; he never knew Cole was afraid of flying. The Charizard abruptly took off with everyone on back. It was a little slow but he could handle it well enough.

Once at the top Kai returned the tired Pokémon to its pokeball and they started walking, looking around at the high remains of stone and metallic buildings that lighting was constantly being drawn too. Lloyd stared at it in awe.

"Shh!" the six ducked when Cole shushed them; hiding behind ruins together, peeking out to see the group of men and women in kabuki masks gathering around several machines and low and behold, Garmadon was there with his back turned to them so Lloyd didn't recognize him as of now.

"Okay, there is not gonna be an easy way to do this… is there?" Jay looked at the others beside him.

They all glanced at one another and then Lloyd. It was now or never and they knew Misako would kill them after this because surely there was no getting out without Lloyd knowing who Garmadon really was to him.

Nya clenched her teeth and stood up, "HEY!" she shouted so loud it echoed amongst the thunder.

Everyone turned around and the others with her stood up too. Garmadon looked startled that they would even come all the way up here to stop the experiment. Then he looked and saw Lloyd in their group and knew it was over in a few minutes.

The six teenagers marched forward, grunts readying to throw out Pokémon at the first sign from their leader but he held his hand out to stop them from making any more movements.

"Stop this now before I shut it down," Nya folded her arms tightly across her chest, demanding that he give in to their commands.

Garmadon was too busy looking at Lloyd who was staring right back like he saw a ghost. "I… you look like…" he slowly tried to say. "But… you… you were…"

Garmadon let out a heavy sigh, shaking his head, "Hi son…"

**Uh oh... hehe... well this'll get interesting... right? XD**

**Thanks for reading guys :D **

**~Mar**


	20. Chapter 19

Lloyd's stomach was twisted up and he felt like he was going to be sick. "You… uncle Wu said you were dead… with mom…" his whole body started shaking. "Why are you here… with people like them!?" he pointed to the other team Stone members.

"He lied…" The old man looked down, "He lied because I was a part of Skulkin… and now Stone…" he swallowed. "It was agreed upon that you wouldn't know I was alive because of the terrible things I've done and will most likely do…"

"Is mom alive too then?" he looked up again. "Is that a lie she was also dead?!"

Garmadon looked at the others around him. Neither knew what he was going to answer to him so they all held their breath. "No…" he finally answered, giving a pained look. "She died when Wu said she did… I'm sorry…"

"Was it your fault?"

That question surprised everyone. Lloyd's mind must have been going a million miles an hour at this point. Garmadon wiped his face, "I really didn't want to be having a conversation like this here…" he shoved his hands in his coat pockets, "But… yea… I guess it might have been fault… another reason you couldn't grow up around me… I'm sorry Lloyd… I… don't really know what to say…"

"Get away from me…" Lloyd quietly said. "I just want you to die…" he was glaring now.

It really hurt hearing something like that coming from his own son that he had hoped would join him. He had a feeling Wu and Misako pulled something behind his back though after all these years. He should have just taken his baby boy when he had the chance and they would be together.

"You're not going to stop what I'm doing… I have envisioned a new world with the aid of breaking the wall to the Reverse World… and with Giritina… I'll accomplish it… and you'll soon change your mind about me my son…"

"Don't call me that…" the green eyed boy shook his head, wanting to run away, though he knew he wouldn't get very far because they were so high up off the ground. "I swear I'll be the one to stop you if I have any say in that…"

"Flame use fire blast," Kai jumped back as his Flareon sprang into action, catching them off guard.

"Yang use protect…" The Umbreon leaped out like he was expecting it. No one even noticed him there behind his trainer, blending in with his long, black jacket. The pale barrier bounced the attack right off and then faded. "This is the father of that Eevee Lloyd…" he pointed to his son. "Your mother's Espeon is the mother too".

Dragon cocked his head, looking at the Umbreon who had a sad look in his red eyes. The Eevee yipped, trying to get out of Lloyd's arms and to his own father. "No Dragon!" the blonde growled. "You can't associate with him… he's bad too…"

Nya sighed and stepped up with her Sylveon. "Come on boys… we have an experiment to stop… right here… right now…"

The Stone grunts ran ahead and Garmadon walked back, leaving them to deal with his son and his friends. "Well? Is it working?" he quietly asked Kozu.

"It is…" the taller one answered, looking at the computer screen. "We can leave whenever you see fit… I believe we have stored enough of the electrical power for more tests back in the hideout… we may be able to break though in a few days…"

Garmadon nodded and looked back at the six teenagers who were fighting so hard to get to him in back and catch them. "Start packing the gear while they're distracted… I'm not going to waste my breath on any of them…"

One by one the underlings fell before the gym leaders and trainer. "We're too late…" Jay sighed, seeing they were mostly cleared out. "Guess we'll have to report this one to Wu…" he shook his head and looked at Lloyd. "Kid… you… gonna be okay?"

Lloyd blinked and looked at the others. He then realized his eyes were watering and he wiped his eyes. "Y… yea…"

Nya hugged him tightly then the others joined in as well. "It's gonna be okay Lloyd…" Cole told him. "We're going to be right here for you…"

* * *

><p>They trekked it back to Jay's gym where they all sat around the computer, waiting for Wu to pick up the call. Finally, he appeared on the screen, half surprised to see Lloyd there in the middle of everyone. "Oh, hello Lloyd… what is… everyone doing there together?"<p>

"You lied to me…" Lloyd bluntly said, cutting to the chase. Wu was silent. "My father alive this whole time… better yet… he's… he's… a bad guy…" he looked like he was about to cry again and Nya was sitting next to him, hugging him. "And he said it was his fault my mom is dead…"

"Lloyd… I…" Wu didn't know how to respond to such a statement but it sounded like Garmadon lied even to Lloyd. "I'm sorry… I didn't want you to know the truth about him…" he wiped his face. "I'm sorry Lloyd I never told you about him… I really am…"

"He's planning unleashing some Pokémon called Giritina…" the sixteen year old nephew swallowed; "I'm gonna be the one to stop him…" he started shaking.

Wu stared at his young nephew, "Lloyd you… you only have two gym badges… your father is the eighth gym leader… how can you hope to beat him like that!?"

The green eyed trainer turned in his seat quickly and looked at Jay and Cole. "I want to double battle the two of you for your badges at the same time… I'm going to get the first seven I need to take him down…"

The black and auburn haired pair looked at one another, surprised that the newer trainer would request such a thing when he had zero experience with even a double battle. "… Fine… we accept… but don't expect things to go easier if you want a double battle kid".

Lloyd looked back at the screen, "Maybe I'll see you later uncle Wu…" he pressed the escape key, "Bye…" he abruptly got up and went outside, leaving the five other teenagers sitting around Jay's room quite surprised.

The kid wants to try and knock both of us out at the same time!?" Jay wiped his face. "I don't think I'll be able to help but go easy on him!"

* * *

><p>Lloyd wandered around the more urban part of the city that was closer to the forest. His other Pokémon were around him, knowing he was very upset about something. A rustling was heard overhead and the blonde looked up to see a Nuzleaf falling through the foliage, right on top of him. "OUCH!" Lloyd yelped as his other Pokémon scattered, scared.<p>

"Nuz!?" the Nuzleaf blinked, shying away a little.

Lloyd frowned, "Hey… are you okay?" he reached out, seeing the Pokémon had an injured leg. "Here…" he dug into his backpack and found a potion, spraying it over the scraped up, wounded area. "Is… that better?" he stuffed it back in his bag.

The woodland Pokémon got to his feet, putting weight on it. After walking around a bit he happily hopped over to Lloyd, hugging him as saying "thanks". "It's no problem… I wish… I could heal that quickly…" the Nuzleaf cocked his head and Lloyd nodded. "Stuff with my… family I guess…"

Dragon started sniffing the Nuzleaf curiously and the dark and grass type started petting the Eevee like a dog on the top of his head. Lloyd smiled seeing the two interact. His Vivillion and Trapinch then came over and it looked like they were getting along quite well.

"Hey if… you have nothing else to do… how about you come with me…? You guys seem to like each other at least…" Lloyd showed him the empty pokeball.

Nuzleaf looked surprised by Lloyd's gesture of friendship. The boy in the green hoodie frowned, almost understanding what was wrong with his new friend. "Did… something happen with your family? Or friends?"

"Nuz…" it lowered its head. Lloyd held the pokeball out more and though he hesitated, he pressed the button and went inside the pokeball willingly.

Shortly after Lloyd let him out again and smiled, "Thanks for being my friend… maybe I'll be able to help you someday if you let me," the Pokémon he had caught over his journey gathered around in an almost group hug. Their feelers and fur started to make the blonde ticklish and he fell back, giggling while Dragon licked his face.

* * *

><p>"Would you look at that…" Kai's brown eyes widened in shock. "It just… went with him…" he looked at his younger sister, "Sis… how can he… just do that? You're an aura master sort of…"<p>

The girl shrugged back, wondering the same thing, "I have a good bond with Pokémon spirits… but not where I can just look at them or openly invite them like that… it normally takes a few hours to a day… maybe even longer to get a bond like what Lloyd just did…"

"Maybe Lloyd's just… special?" Zane suggested. "I mean… what if there's… something more Wu and Misako are aware that they don't want Garmadon to know?"

"We can only hope that kid is gonna stop his dad if he really wants to do it…" Cole sighed. "Come on… let him be… maybe some training is all he needs to clear his head…"

The five gym leaders left the forest clearing to leave the strange boy alone with his Pokémon.

**Sooo... I figured, Lloyd is sort of the Ash of this story XD And yea, Lloyd versus Jay and Cole... that should be really fun right? Two gym leaders at once? I was thinking of including Mega Evolutions but then I realized, hey, why not save it for the Rebooted fic I plan on continuing with next Summer? (after this one obviously)**

**Next chapter will be the battle and then shortly after, Zane, and then Nya... then comes Misako... that will be fun to write... him meeting her... oh geez... how am I gonna do that one? Maybe I should write that out before hand... **

**Ugh, anyways, thanks for reading! I really appreciate the views and a review here and there, it's always a lovely surprise to see :) **

**~Mar**


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